French cosmetics group L’Oreal reported a 2.5% rise in fourth-quarter sales on Thursday, missing expectations due to persistently weak demand in China and a slowdown in growth in North America.
L’Oréal
The owner of brands from Maybelline mascara to Lancome face cream said sales for the three months to end-December were 11.08 billion euros ($11.49 billion), up 2.5% on a like-for-like basis, versus expectations for a 4.4% rise, according to a consensus compiled by LSEG.
The results, slowing from a 3.4% rise in the third quarter, conclude a challenging year when a protracted slowdown in the Chinese economy and inflation in the United States dented demand for skincare and makeup in two of the company’s biggest markets.
Paris-based L’Oreal also lost market share in China’s mass market to domestic rivals such as Proya, analysts say, and its CeraVe and other products recommended by dermatologists face growing competition in developed markets.
Sales grew 1.4% in North America, much less than the 5.2% reported in the third quarter. In North Asia, revenues were down by 3.4%, after a 6.5% decline in the prior period.
The company said in October fourth-quarter sales growth would be comparable to the prior quarter’s.
Former supermodel Naomi Campbell said Wednesday she will appeal against a UK watchdog ban on being a charity trustee, suggesting “fake identities” had wrongly implicated her in a funding scandal.
Naomi Campbell – AFP
The Charity Commission last year banned the 54-year-old from running any charity for five years after identifying “multiple instances of misconduct” in the running of her Fashion for Relief organisation.
It found charity money had been used to pay for Campbell to stay in a five-star hotel in the south of France, including spa treatments and room service.
The ex-supermodel at the time branded the watchdog’s findings “deeply flawed” and insisted that newly-instructed advisers were investigating what happened at the charity.
In a statement released late Wednesday, she said a tribunal had granted her permission to appeal the commission’s findings “after considering the evidence I have submitted”.
“Ever since the commission’s report, I have fought to uncover the facts. What has been unearthed so far is shocking,” Campbell stated.
“I want to shine a light on how easy it is to fake identities online and prevent anybody else going through what I have been through.”
Campbell insisted she had “never undertaken philanthropic work for personal gain, nor will I ever do so”.
The case is due to come before the tribunal on Friday, according to Britain’s domestic Press Association news agency.
Campbell’s representatives claim documents submitted to the commission gave a false impression of her involvement in running the UK charity, the agency said.
They argue there is evidence of a fake email account which was used to impersonate the former supermodel in communications with lawyers, it added.
Campbell founded the charity in 2005, aiming to harness the fashion industry to relieve poverty and advance health and education, by making grants to other organisations and giving resources towards global disasters.
But the watchdog probe published last September found that between April 2016 and July 2022, only 8.5 percent of Fashion for Relief’s overall expenditure went on grants to charities.
The charity was dissolved and removed from the register of charities last year, with two other trustees also receiving bans.
At the time, Campbell said she was “extremely concerned” by the regulator’s findings and that she was “not in control of my charity” having “put the control in the hands of a lawyer”
French sport retailer Decathlon, owned by the Mulliez group, has been accused by investigative journalism NGO Disclose and French TV programme “Cash Investigation” of having as a subcontractor in China a company exploiting Uighur labour, which Decathlon denies, and of sourcing cotton from the Xinjiang region, the AFP agency learnt on Thursday.
Mulliez-owned Decathlon has been accused by Disclose and French TV programme Cash Investigation of having as a subcontractor in China a company exploiting Uighur labour – Martin LELIEVRE / AFP/Archives
Decathlon has been accused by the two media outlets of sourcing textiles from Qingdao Jifa Group, a company that “relies on a forced labour network in China,” reported Disclose in an article published on Thursday morning.
In the Cash Investigation documentary to be broadcast Thursday evening, which AFP was able to view, a local executive stated that cotton stored at the warehouse of a company producing for Decathlon might come from Xinjiang, the region where the Muslim Uighur people are the main ethnic group.
Decathlon’s communication department confirmed it is sourcing goods from Qingdao Jifa, while also stating to AFP that “we strongly condemn all forms of forced labour. We are committed on a daily basis to ensuring integrity and respect for fundamental rights in our business operations and value chain, and we will not hesitate to react and take all the necessary measures if the facts were to be proven.”
The same source said that “100% of the cotton used by Decathlon in manufacturing its products comes from sources committed to sustainable practices, guaranteeing the absence of any form of forced labour, and including organic and recycled cotton.”
In the past, Xinjiang has been hit by bloody attacks attributed by the authorities to Islamists and separatists, and China has launched a huge security campaign in the region, labelling it as counter-terrorism. According to claims by NGOs and Western studies, which AFP wasn’t able to verify, Uighurs are being subjected to forced labour practices.
In 2020, the United Nations published an alarming report on the plight of the Muslim minority in Xinjiang. A publication that came in the wake of an alert issued in 2020 by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and was followed the same year by a document from the Center for Global Policy denouncing a more serious involvement of fashion industry players than previously reported. Amnesty International hammered the point home in 2021, after more than 180 associations and trade unions had formed the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uighur Region.
Cash Investigation mentioned products bearing the logo of the US pro basketball league, the NBA, of which Decathlon has been a partner since 2021. Decathlon claims to be licensed to sell products “in the livery of the NBA and its franchises,” and to do so “in over 1,700 Decathlon stores worldwide and online,” in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.
The US Congress passed a law in December 2021 prohibiting all product imports from the Xinjiang region, unless companies in the region are able to prove that their manufacturing activity does not involve forced labour.
Cash Investigation is also interested in the legal status of the Mulliez family’s empire, which includes retailers such as Leroy Merlin, Kiabi, Flunch, Boulanger and Auchan, all controlled by the Association familiale Mulliez (AFM), a collective body that doesn’t identify as a consolidated group.
At the end of 2024, Auchan announced an extensive redundancy plan threatening 2,400 jobs in France, but other AFM-controlled retailers, like Decathlon, enjoy a more solid financial position, and the unions have called for redeploying Auchan employees in them.
Given the situation, Decathlon shocked its employee representatives by distributing €1 billion in shareholder dividends at the end of 2024.
Team sports apparel and accessories specialist Zelus has received investment from private equity investor Sullivan Street Partners, although the amount hasn’t been divulged.
However, the new backer said the investment will “accelerate and support Zelus’ ambitious growth plans” to strengthen its position in the sports apparel market.
An exclusive Nike licensee, Zelus specialises in the design, development, manufacturing and e-commerce fulfilment of customised sports apparel and equipment for professional and grassroots teams globally.
The support is timely as Zelus made statutory losses last year despite turnover rocketing 157% to £49 million, reported thebusinessdesk.com. However, the business also recorded positive EBITDA for the first time since it was founded as a spin-off from US sportswear giant Nike in 2019.
Layton Tamberlin, co-founder and managing partner of Sullivan Street, said: “Together with Zelus’ management team, we look forward to equipping more teams and athletes with top quality products, from local pitches through to professional stadiums.”
Investment advisor Neil Mitchell added: “Sullivan Street will be a great fit for [Zelus executive director] Dave Seales and [his] team, and there appears to be a real growth story in the sport sector right now.”
Entertainment8 years ago