L'Oreal reports strong growth in 2013

L'Oreal China disclosed on Thursday that its sales totaled 132.8 billion yuan ($21.69 billion) in 2013, up 10.2 percent year-on-year, marking the 13th consecutive year of double-digit growth.

China is now the third-largest market for the group. It is expected to become the group's largest market by 2025.

The group relocated its Asia Pacific headquarters from Paris to Shanghai last year. It also expanded its Yichang Tianmen plant in Hubei province in 2013, making it the largest makeup production center in Asia Pacific.

L'Oreal introduced Yves Saint Laurent Beauty to China last year. It also launched Clarisonic, a game-changing brand dedicated to beauty devices.

The acquisition of the well-known Chinese facemask brand MG is expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year. Also, a shareholders' meeting will be held at the end of March.

Alexis Perakis-Valat, CEO of L'Oreal China, said they will keep penetrating the lower tier Chinese cities in 2014 as there are more affluent consumers in these places who turn out to be quite open-minded too.

According to a Chinese Consumer Confidence Index report released by Nielsen in mid February, Chinese Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities contributed 44 percent of the total fast-moving consumer goods sales in 2013, up about 6 percentage points up year-on-year.

"We are glad to see this high confidence among Tier 2 and Tier 3 consumers. Their huge spending potential could be vital for China to realize its transformation from an investment-driven to consumption driven economy," said Patrick Dodd, Managing Director of Nielsen China.

shijing@chinadaily.com.cn