On Wednesday, the Estée Lauder Companies reported a 5% sales growth for the fiscal year 2026 to $15 billion. The beauty giant attributed that uptick to the success of its “Beauty Reimagined” turnaround plan, unveiled in 2025 in reaction to declining sales. With that growth, the Tom Ford Beauty and Jo Malone London brands have now joined the billion-dollar club, according to the company.
“Our portfolio of billion-dollar brands is unparalleled in prestige beauty, with these two brands joining Clinique, Estée Lauder, La Mer and MAC,” said ELC CEO Stéphane de La Faverie. “With their scale, premier brand desirability, breakthrough innovation and consumer reach, these brands are positioned to be powerful contributors to growth.”
Fragrance as a whole was once again the conglomerate’s fastest-growing category, delivering 10% net sales growth for the fiscal year 2026 thanks to brands like Tom Ford, Le Labo and Kilian Paris. According to de La Faverie, Kilian, Le Labo and The Ordinary were the three fastest-growing brands in fiscal year 2026, with affordable skin-care line The Ordinary allegedly close to passing the billion-dollar mark.
Tom Ford also delivered net sales growth in the makeup category, where net sales as a whole rose 2%. MAC, which expanded to Sephora U.S. stores in March, also saw sales growth for fiscal year 2026. According to de La Faverie, the company has closed a “significant amount of freestanding [MAC] stores” to focus on more profitable growth channels. Sales declined at the makeup brands Bobbi Brown and Too Faced, however.
Despite the prestige hair-care segment growing across the market amid demand for scalp care products, net sales dipped 1% in ELC’s hair category for fiscal year 2026. The company attributed the dip in sales to the Aveda brand, with The Ordinary showing growth thanks to the success of its Multi-Peptide Serum. Net sales in skin care, the company’s largest category, grew 5%.
Going forward, the company indicated its outlook for fiscal year 2027 is 3-5% organic net sales growth. On the M&A front, de La Faverie said ELC will remain focused on its existing brands while it continues to pursue minority investments.
“Our focus has been and will remain growing our core business. We will continue to pursue minority and single brand deals that enhance our portfolio and can benefit from our ability to create scale and deliver attractive ROI,” said de La Faverie.
The company’s recent investments include the acquisition of a minority stake in Mexican niche fragrance brand Xinú in November 2025 and in luxury skin-care line 111Skin in April. In March, the company announced the full acquisition of Indian Beauty brand Forest Essentials, after making an initial minority investment in 2008. Despite reports of a merger with Spanish conglomerate Puig earlier in the year, the companies announced the end of those discussions in May.
