Estée Lauder Cos Inc cut its full-year sales forecast on Tuesday, signalling a bigger hit to demand for its skin care and makeup products as the Delta variant brought in a line of fresh lockdowns in certain markets.

Renewed restrictions in Eastern markets which included China, a key revenue generating region for the company, dampened demand for lipsticks and foundations as a resurgence in Delta variant cases led to closures of brick-and-mortar stores.

The Clinique cosmetics maker now expects net sales to rise between 12 percent and 15 percent in fiscal 2022, down from its prior estimate of a 13 percent to 16 percent increase.

Net sales rose to $4.39 billion in the first quarter, from $3.56 billion a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected sales of $4.25 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

By Deborah Sophia and Aditi Sebastian; Editor: Maju Samuel

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