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BOURSOLIVE, THE E-FAIR FOR INDIVIDUAL INVESTORS
Investing in the Age of Artificial Intelligence was the theme addressed by L’Oréal at the fourth edition of Les Rencontres BoursoLive on 24-25 June. Speaking at the event, the Group’s Chief Financial Officer, Christophe Babule, outlined the innovation strategy at the core of L’Oréal’s model and performance.
How is innovation central to L’Oréal’s model?
In 2023, the Group achieved its best growth in over 20 years (excluding 2021, the post-Covid year), once again demonstrating our ability to outperform a dynamic beauty market. Beyond our multipolar model, innovation is what drives our success, fuelled by one ambition: to invent the beauty of the future in tune with the technological revolutions of our age. With a Research & Innovation team of more than 4,000 researchers – the biggest in the industry - L’Oréal focuses on two main axes. The first is using Green Sciences to improve the Group’s range of raw materials and keep the environmental impact of our ingredients to a minimum. The second is adopting new technologies from biotech to generative artificial intelligence extensively in everything we do to establish ourselves as the leader in Beauty Tech. This ambition is underpinned by 115 years of beauty expertise and data. Two concrete examples of innovations developed for our consumers are virtual try-ons on mobile phones and personalised diagnostic services. In 2023, there were 100 million uses of our digital services across more than 30 brands in over 70 countries.
How do you see L’Oréal creating value for the future?
Our powerful innovation capabilities make us confident and ready for the future. We believe the beauty market will continue to grow at an average annual rate of around 4% to 5% in the coming years. There are a wealth of growth opportunities for L’Oréal, particularly in emerging markets driven by the rise of the middle class and premiumisation. With our unmatched portfolio of 37 global brands, we cover all categories, at all price points, through all distribution channels. We rely on our industrial agility – 37 plants and over 150 distribution centres – to support the Group’s growth.
All of these factors put L’Oréal in a position to continue generating substantial value for our stakeholders, including our 340,000 individual shareholders. This year, we increased our dividend by +10% and still offer a loyalty bonus of +10% for registered shares(1). Total shareholder return (as of 31 May 2024) was +15.0% per year over five years, illustrating our sustainable and profitable growth.
Watch the replay to find out more about the innovations outlined by Christophe Babule at BoursoLive. Learn more about Beauty Tech in our special report on the VivaTech trade show (pages 4-5).
Béatrice Dautzenberg, Global Director of Beauty Tech Services, presented L’Oréal’s Beauty Tech initiatives at a roundtable on the role of artificial intelligence in companies.
“At L’Oréal, artificial intelligence and Beauty Tech are already a reality. They give us the power to bring the best in personalised, inclusive and sustainable beauty to as many people as possible.”
(1) Preferential dividend for shareholders who continuously hold their shares in registered form for a minimum of two full calendar years, up to a maximum of 0.5% of the capital for the same shareholder.