L'Oreal Group reported strong double-digit growth in the Chinese mainland in 2021 mainly due to product innovations and cost control, according to the financial statements of the world's largest cosmetics company by revenue.

Nicolas Hieronimus, chief executive officer of L'Oreal, called 2021 "a historic year" for the company as it achieved a record growth of 16.1 percent to see its total sales revenue hit 32.28 billion euros. The growth is twice that of the global beauty market.

"L'Oreal gained market share in all zones, divisions and categories. Over two years, the group achieved growth of 11.3 percent, spectacularly outperforming a market that had returned almost to 2019 levels," said Hieronimus.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, the Chinese beauty market performed much better than in 2019, allowing L'Oreal China to grow more than 50 percent compared with 2019.

The group said it had broken previous records and reported further market share gains during the Double 11 shopping festival on Tmall in November.L'Oreal saw robust growth in travel retail as well thanks to its booming business in Hainan.

Globally, the group led the online beauty market with its e-commerce growing 25.7 percent, which accounted for 28.9 percent of sales. 

Crediting its exceptional growth to superior innovations and rigorous cost control, L'Oreal delivered a record operating profit of 6.16 billion euros and an operating margin up 50 basis points.

"In a global context that remains volatile at the beginning of the year, we are confident in our ability to outperform the market in 2022 and achieve another year of growth in both sales and profits," said Hieronimus.