By Mateusz Rabiega and Dominique Patton
PARIS, Feb 13 (Reuters) - L'Oreal shares fell around 6% in early trade on Friday, set for their worst day since at least October, after the beauty giant missed quarterly sales expectations and reported an unexpected deterioration in its Asian business.
Fourth-quarter sales rose 6%, short of some analyst forecasts of about 7% growth. The Paris-based owner of Maybelline posted quarterly revenue of 11.3 billion euros ($13.4 billion), but momentum in North Asia stalled,
with sales growing less than expected as travel retail disappointed.
The stock was Europe's second-steepest decliner on Friday.
"I know that you expected more from North Asia given the improving news out of China," finance chief Christophe Babule told analysts, adding the company had seen continued softness in South Korea and a weaker mainland China travel retail market due to changes in domestic airport operators.
L'Oreal had highlighted improving demand for its luxury brands in China in the third quarter.
"The fourth-quarter setup makes it difficult to envision top-line acceleration in full year of 2026," JP Morgan analysts said in a note to clients, adding that while Europe and emerging markets supported performance, they remained cautious on European demand in 2026.
Deutsche Bank Research also said earnings growth was likely to slow in the near term.
($1 = 0.8435 euros)
(Additional reporting by Piotr Lipinski in Gdansk. Writing by Ingrid Melander. Editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak and Mark Potter)
