PARIS — As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, a number of European beauty and fashion companies are rescheduling their annual general meetings and financial results release dates.
Adidas on Thursday said it has postponed its AGM, which had been slated to take place on May 14 in Fürth, Germany, and will reveal a new date for the meeting later in 2020.
“Despite the temporary challenges posed by the coronavirus outbreak, the company remains fully confident about its future growth prospects thanks to its healthy fundamentals and its strong positioning within an attractive industry,” Adidas said in a statement.
Also out of Germany, where authorities have banned large meetings to contain the further spread of COVID-19, Beiersdorf AG this week said its AGM, formerly scheduled for April 29, will be rescheduled to later this year.
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The company explained in a statement that the decision was taken against “the background of the ongoing global spread of the coronavirus and after carefully weighing all aspects, especially the health of all participants.”
“The Robert Koch Institute and the responsible health authorities in Germany assume that infections will increase significantly in the coming weeks,” Beiersdorf said. “The health of shareholders and employees remains the top priority at Beiersdorf.”
In France, where a quarantine is in effect, L’Oréal’s AGM will be broadcast live from company headquarters in Clichy, France, on April 21.
In the statement referring to the AGM, L’Oréal reiterated its guidance for 2020.
“The beginning of 2020 has been marked by the coronavirus epidemic that will impact the beauty market in several geographic zones and travel retail for a period of time that is difficult to determine at this stage,” the company said. “Our first priority is the safety of our employees, and we are taking all possible measures to protect those working in countries impacted by this epidemic.”
L’Oréal said a learning from experiences such as SARS and MERS is that after a period of disturbance, consumption resumes strongly.
The group said that at the time of the filing of its Universal Registration Document — which includes the annual financial report, among other financial documents — on Tuesday, “assuming the epidemic and consequent disturbance will not exceed a few months, and that it follows a similar pattern to previous cases, we are confident in our capacity this year again to outperform the beauty market and achieve another year of growth in both sales and profits.”
Alès Groupe said it is not publishing its full-year 2019 results today, as previously planned, but rather that will happen at the latest on April 30.