'L'Oreal agreed 320m settlement with French tax authority'

In this photo taken on 16 February 2018 shows a board with the L`Oreal logo outside of the L`Oreal plant, in Lassigny. Cosmetics maker L’Oreal will pay 320 million euros after they reached a settlement with French tax authorities. Photo: AFP
In this photo taken on 16 February 2018 shows a board with the L`Oreal logo outside of the L`Oreal plant, in Lassigny. Cosmetics maker L’Oreal will pay 320 million euros after they reached a settlement with French tax authorities. Photo: AFP

L'Oreal, the world's biggest cosmetics company, said on Friday that it would pay the French government 320 million euros ($352 million) in a settlement with the country's tax authorities.

The French group said the payment, relating to the payment of corporate tax between 2014 and 2018 by several subsidiaries including Lancome Parfums et Beaute, was the result of "constructive discussions with the French tax authorities".

It represents less than 10 per cent of its 2018 net profit for 2018 of 3.89 billion euros.

L'Oreal said the sum would be recorded as an exceptional charge for 2019 and would "have no significant recurrent impact in the future".

The Lancome brand has been a star of the group's strongly-performing luxury division, which saw sales rise 15.5 per cent in the first half of 2019.

The group as a whole saw sales of 14.8 billion euros in the six months to July, with like-for-like growth in the period at 7.3 per cent, its highest in more than a decade.