Coty, Inc. (Coty) and The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) have released their latest financial reports, detailing their respective performances for fiscal year 2025 and adjusted outlooks for fiscal year 2026.
As two of the sector’s largest players in the space, the results reveal a nuanced picture of the current US beauty market, including resilience in prestige fragrances, ongoing softness in mass color cosmetics, and structural pressures that continue to weigh on growth.
Coty is leveraging fragrance strength amid mass market weakness
Coty wrapped up fiscal 2025 with $5.89 billion in revenue, down four percent from last year. Consumer Beauty, which includes mass-market products, declined by eight percent, while Prestige products decreased by just one percent.
Profitability improved, with adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) reaching $1.08 billion and margins rising slightly to 18.4 percent.
In the company’s financial press release, CEO Sue Nabi said Coty was “operating from a position of reinvigorated strength after five years of transformation and proven execution,” pointing to a 10 percent compound annual growth rate in Prestige fragrance sales and two percent in Consumer Beauty sales from 2021 to 2025.
Fragrance continues to drive Coty’s performance, with like-for-like increases of nine percent in ultra-premium, two percent in prestige, and eight percent in consumer beauty fragrances. In the release, Nabi noted that the company is uniquely positioned to serve both high- and low-end fragrance markets “as the only global fragrance player...playing into the booming ‘treatonomics’ trend where consumers look for a mood-boost in the highly uncertain economic backdrop.”
Still, softness in the U.S. market and challenges in mass color cosmetics resulted in a $212.8 million impairment charge related to Consumer Beauty’s color cosmetics. Coty is responding with refreshed U.S. leadership and a push into fragrance mists as an affordable, higher-margin extension, with launches planned across more than a dozen brands.
ELC
Estée Lauder’s fiscal 2025 results told a more challenging story. Net sales declined 8 percent for the year. Net earnings fell to $0.7 billion, down from $1.0 billion in the prior year, while diluted earnings per share decreased to $1.89. Adjusted diluted EPS was $2.25, compared with $2.94 a year earlier. Chief executive officer Stéphane de La Faverie said, “Fiscal 2025 was a challenging year for our Company as we faced ongoing headwinds, particularly in Asia travel retail and in mainland China.” To address these pressures, the company announced a sweeping restructuring program that includes streamlining operations and investing in priority brands and markets. De La Faverie said the moves are designed to “better position the Company for long-term, sustainable growth.”
The company also noted stronger performance in certain prestige fragrance lines, aligning with industry-wide momentum in the category. However, weakness in skincare and makeup weighed on overall results. Looking ahead to fiscal 2026, Estée Lauder expects a modest return to growth, forecasting net sales up 0 to 3 percent and adjusted diluted EPS in the range of $1.90 to $2.10.
The combined results highlight two clear signals for the beauty industry. Fragrance remains a resilient growth driver across both prestige and mass price tiers, while color cosmetics continue to struggle in the U.S. market. At the same time, both companies are prioritizing operational discipline—Coty through cost savings and digital investment, and Estée Lauder through restructuring—to position themselves for a market defined by selective consumer spending, strength in indulgent categories and ongoing adjustments in mass cosmetics and global distribution.
