Estée Lauder, the beauty giant behind brands such as Clinique, MAC, and Jo Malone, has slumped to a loss of more than £360m in the UK and Ireland as it prepares to cut thousands of jobs.
The US multi-national, which is also the owner of Bobbi Brown, Aveda and Tom Ford, posted a pre-tax loss of £364.7m for the year to 30 June, 2024.
The London-headquartered division had previously reported a pre-tax profit of £115.4m in its prior financial year.
New accounts filed with Companies House also show that its turnover declined from £542.2m to £526.2m.
Estée Lauder said the reduction in its sales is a “reflection of the impact of the cost-of-living rises experienced by consumers over recent years”.
It added that its huge pre-tax loss was “mainly due to the impact of an impairment in the investment in Have & Be Co of £439m”.
Estée Lauder said the impairment is “mainly due to the strategic decision made for the Dt Jart+ brand to exit the travel retail channel globally”.
A statement signed off by the board said: “As a global leader in prestige beauty the group in 2025 will make important strides, as we implement our strategy reset to continue rebalancing regional growth, deliver improved annual profitability, and strengthen go-to-market and innovation capacities to elevate our execution in response to a more competitive market.”
Estée Lauder prepares to cut 7,000 jobs
The results come after it was reported in February that Estée Lauder was to shed twice the number of jobs that it had originally planned.
At the time, the company pointed to uncertainty around US President Donald Trump’s tariffs as cause for concern.
The group was already carrying out a major restructure to address its financial performance but confirmed that job losses could now reach 7,000.
Estée Lauder employs around 62,000 people across the world, with in the region of 4,400 based in the UK and Ireland.
In February, it reported a group profit of $650m (£518m) pre-tax loss for the three months to 31 December, 2024. That figure compared to a profit of $519m in the same period the year before.
It also confirmed that its group sales had fallen by six per cent to $4bn.