(Reuters) – Estee Lauder warned on Monday that its 2025 revenue and profit will fall short of expectations, weighed down by slowing demand in China, as the U.S. beauty company also announced the retirement of its longtime Chief Executive Officer Fabrizio Freda.
The announcement of the departure of Fabrizio Freda, who joined Estée Lauder’s management in 2008, comes a month after that of CFO Tracey Davis, after 12 years of service, in the context of a broader recovery plan.
The board is considering internal and external candidates as part of succession planning, Estée Lauder said.
Until a successor is named, Fabrizio Freda will continue to lead and oversee strategic, financial and investment priorities, the cosmetics group added.
Estée Lauder now expects its 2025 sales to be between a 1% decline and a 2% increase, significantly disappointing analysts’ expectations of a 6.43% increase, according to LSEG data.
Adjusted annual earnings per share for the period are expected to be between $2.75 (2.49 euros) and $2.95, while analysts had expected $3.96.
L’Oréal also reported a decline in sales in North Asia in the second quarter last month, with the Estée Lauder rival saying “market conditions in the Chinese ecosystem remain challenging.”
(Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bangalore; by Mara Vîlcu, edited by Augustin Turpin)
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