Estée Lauder earns less in 2024. The American cosmetics group closes its fiscal year 2024 with a figure of 970 million dollars, 36% less than in the previous financial year, in a year in which it was unable to make its sales recover. The group closed the year with a turnover of 14,152 million euros, almost 2% less than last year.
Estée Lauder points to its business in the Asian market as the main cause of these results. In Asia, its turnover has fallen by 6%, a continent where it has not been able to reach 5,000 million dollars. The group explained in the statement that it expects sales in the beauty segments in China to continue to fall due to a lack of confidence in the brand on the part of Chinese consumers.
In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, Estée Lauder's sales were more than $6.14 billion, down 1% from the previous year. The Americas was the only region where the group was able to maintain its sales and revenue growth, albeit only 1%, and also failed to reach $5 billion.
The most pronounced revenue decline was in the hair area. Hair care products brought in a total of $629 million, 4% less than last year. Make-up and colour cosmetics, meanwhile, saw a slight decline in sales of 1%.
Net attributable profit was 354 million euros and represents a fall of 61% compared to the same period last year.
The company's CEO warned that the results will not be optimal for the next fiscal year 2025: ‘While our sales and earnings outlook for fiscal year 2024 is disappointing, we will take important steps this year as we implement the re-establishment of our strategy to continue to rebalance regional growth, deliver improved annual profitability and strengthen marketing and innovation capabilities to elevate our execution in response to a more competitive market."
At the same time, the company has announced the retirement of its current CEO at the end of 2025. The next CEO is expected to be someone with a track record within the company itself, although other highly qualified external profiles have also been considered.