Cosmetics group Estée Lauder has slashed its sales outlook for the third straight quarter because of a slower than expected recovery in Asia, sending shares in the company down by a fifth.
New-York listed Estée Lauder, home to brands including MAC and La Mer, warned on Wednesday that it expected sales for the year to fall between 10 per cent and 12 per cent, steeper than the 5 per cent to 7 per cent drop it had previously forecast.
“As the shape of recovery from the pandemic for Asia travel retail comes into better focus, it is proving to be both far more volatile than we expected and more gradual relative to what we experienced in other regions,” said chief executive Fabrizio Freda.