FAQ
You can invest any amount between £10 and £200 per month between July 2025 and March 2026 (the “Accumulation Period”) subject to a maximum total investment of £1,800.
Your investment will be deducted from your salary prior to deduction of income tax and National Insurance Contributions (“NIC”). Following the end of the accumulation period your investment amount will be used to purchase ordinary shares in L’Oréal known as “Partnership Shares”.
Employees with at least six months continuous service prior to 1st January 2025 may join the scheme.
You can subscribe between 11 June and 25 June 2025 (23:59 Central European Summer Time) only. After this date, it will no longer be possible to join the plan.
All you need to do is log onto invest.loreal.com
• Click the "Subscribe" button
• Login using the Personal ID sent to you by email (if you have not received a Personal ID, please contact corpukexcompsb@loreal.com)
• Fill in the online subscription form and confirm your subscription
Confirmation of your application will be sent to the email address you supplied when registering, which you should keep.
If you do not have access to invest.loreal.com, you may request a personalised hard copy application form from the Reward Team at corpukexcompsb@loreal.com or your local HR Team.
If you apply to participate in this way, you will need to return your application form to Megan Lee, L’Oréal HR, 7th Floor, Gateway Central, 187 Wood Lane, London, W12 7SA so that it is received by no later than 5pm on 25 June 2025.
You can cease contributions at any time during the accumulation period (July 2025 to March 2026), and withdraw your funds. You can re- start contributions into the SIP once. If you need to withdraw you can do so via the Portal or by contacting askHR@loreal.com or Corpuk.HRRetail@loreal.com (for Retail employees)
HMRC requires shares to be held in the Plan by a Trustee on your behalf. The Company hase appointed Equiniti Share Plan Trustees Limited to act in this role. The Trustee’s responsibility is to look after the administration of the Plan and to ensure compliance with the Plan rules and governing legislation.
Partnership shares are the shares you choose to purchase in 2025, up to a maximum investment of £1,800. Matching shares are the shares L’Oreal gives you for free in 2031, up to a maximum of 2. Both make up your total investment.
Partnership Shares: You can sell your Partnership Shares at any time. However, you will lose the full income tax and NIC benefits applicable to Partnership Shares if they are not held in the SIP for 5 years.
Matching Shares: Matching Shares are subject to a five year holding period and cannot normally be sold or transferred before the end of this period. You may sell your Matching Shares following the end of the five year holding period.
If you decide to sell or transfer your Partnership Shares or you cease to be employed by L'Oréal (other than in certain specified circumstances as detailed below) before the Partnership Shares have been held in the SIP for at least five years, you will lose the corresponding Matching Shares.
The minimum investment is £10.00 per month or one L'Oréal share (whichever is the lowest). However, given the price of the L'Oreal share, we recommend a minimum investment of £388.00 over 12 months, or £44.00 per month.
The maximum investment is £200.00 per month, i.e. £1,800.00 over a nine-month period.
Purchasing Partnership Shares will reduce the pay on which income tax and NIC are assessed. This may affect your and/or your spouse/ civil partner’s entitlement to certain State benefits including statutory maternity pay and statutory sick pay. This is important if your participation in the L’Oréal SIP means that your earnings, on which NIC are due, fall below the Lower Earnings Limit so that you are not paying any NIC. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) publish a guidance leaflet “Share Incentive Plans and your entitlement to benefits” (IR177) which can be viewed on their website at hmrc.gov.uk.
Joining the SIP does not affect your company pension or any salary sacrifice schemes (if applicable).
If more Partnership Shares are requested than are proposed to be made available under the SIP, the biggest subscriptions (including the relevant Matching Shares) will be reduced until the number of shares proposed to be made available is reached. This scaling down will occur before the shares are allocated and paid for, and any excess investment will be returned to you.
Only whole shares may be bought with your investment. It is therefore possible that there may be a small cash amount left over after the Trustee has bought your Partnership Shares. Any cash balance remaining will be returned to you via Payroll, less any income tax and NIC due on this amount and will be paid to you as soon as practicable.
All of your shares (including your Matching Shares, if they have not been forfeited) must be taken out of the SIP.
Should you leave L’Oréal for one of the following reasons, you will not be liable to pay income tax or NIC on any Partnership or Matching Shares, even if they are taken out of the SIP. In addition, you will keep your Matching Shares:
- retirement;
- redundancy;
- injury or disability;
- transfer of your employment to a non- group company to which TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment) regulations apply;
- your employing company ceases to be an associated group company
Once you have registered and activated your account, the Share Plans Portal (www.esp-portal.com/clients/loreal) will allow you to do the following:
- view your contributions made during the accumulation period;
- view your partnership, matching and any dividends
- sell any L’Oréal SIP shares; and
- use online calculators to model potential gains and tax benefits.
Whether you move to another part of L'Oréal within the UK or overseas, your SIP account will remain open and your Partnership and Matching Shares will continue to be held in the SIP.
You should inform your HR Department in the normal way. They will notify the SIP administrator.
The Trustee will write to you to explain the offer that has been made and the choices open to you. You will have the opportunity to instruct the Trustee as to whether or not you want the Trustee to accept the offer on your behalf and, if there is a choice of consideration, which consideration you wish to receive for your L'Oréal shares. The Trustee will act in accordance with your instructions.
L'Oréal shares are listed on the Paris stock market. You will be able to see the share price on the L'Oréal website: www.loreal- finance.com or on www.esp-portal.com/clients/loreal.