2022 Universal Registration Document

Chapter 1 : Presentation of the Group – Integrated Report

Others
  • The Board of Directors cancelled, with effect from February 10, 2022, the 22,260,000 L'Oréal shares that had been repurchased from Nestlé, in accordance with the decisions of the Board of Directors dated December 7, 2021.
  • David Greenberg has been appointed CEO of L'Oréal USA, President of North America Zone, and member of L'Oréal Executive Committee.
  • L’Oréal strongly condemns the Russian invasion and the war in Ukraine and announced its decision to temporarily close all its own stores, directly operated counters in department stores as well as its own brand e-commerce sites and suspend all industrial and national media investments.
  • L'Oréal has announced the successful launch of its first bond issue 5, including a tranche with a CSR reference framework, for a total nominal amount of €3 billion. This inaugural issue received exceptional market reception with a total demand of €10.7 billion, more than 3.5 times the combined volume of supply.
  • 30th anniversary of L'Oréal Brandstorm, the innovation competition for students from all over the world.
  • L'Oréal China Corporate Venture Capital (Shanghai Meicifang Investment Co., Ltd) has announced its first equity investment in China by investing in Chinese luxury fragrance brand Documents, with the support of venture capital fund BOLD Business Opportunities for L'Oréal Development.
  • After two years of renovation, L'Oréal has announced the reopening of the famous Carita Beauty House, at 11 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré (Paris).
  • L'Oréal China has launched two pioneering projects in the city of Suzhou, laying the foundation stone of its first-ever connected fulfillment center and announcing the official opening of its 'Healthy Beauty' workshop at the Suzhou plant.
  • L'Oréal has completed the acquisition of Skinbetter Science, an American skincare brand at the forefront of dermatological research, distributed by health professionals -dermatology, plastic surgery and aesthetic medicine.
2023 Outlook

Mindful of the current uncertainties, we remain ambitious for the future, optimistic about the outlook for the beauty market, and confident in our ability to keep outperforming the market and achieve in 2023 another year of growth in sales and profits.

1.3.1.5. L’Oréal’s investment policy responds to long-term objectives

L’Oréal is a growing manufacturing company thanks largely to two types of investments:

  1. scientific and manufacturing investments, which are described in several sections (see sections 1.2.8. and 1.2.9.); and
  2. marketing investments, which are made on an ongoing basis and are inherent to the Group’s activities in the cosmetics industry. Indeed, winning new market share requires in-depth and situation-specific studies, as well as advertising and promotional expenses attuned not only to the familiarity of brands and their competitive position, but also to constant changes in consumers’ aspirations –something that the subsidiaries’ sales and marketing teams monitor constantly. Lastly, investments in point-of sale (POS) advertising materials ensure optimal presence for our brands in points of sale.

For reasons relating to strategy and competition, L’Oréal cannot therefore provide any systematic information on future investments.

In 2022, the Group’s investments totalled €1,343 million, or 3.5% of its sales. This level reflects the Group’s constant efforts to improve manufacturing efficiency, research and digital development performance and enhance brand value.

Investment commitments in 2022 can be broken down as follows : production and the physical supply chain represented approximately 29% of total investments; marketing investments, including moulds, POS advertising materials and stores accounted for 34%; IT investments spread over all these categories represented 23% of total investments; research and the head offices in the different countries accounted for the remainder(1). Despite their strategic nature, none of these investments taken individually is material enough at Group level to warrant more detailed disclosure.

(1) See notes 3.2.2., 7.2. and 14.2. to the “Consolidated Financial Statements” for more details on these investments.