Personal care giant L'Oréal posted a stronger than expected rise in third-quarter sales on Tuesday, driven by booming demand for its luxury brands even as it struggled to revitalise sales in its largest mass market division.
The French cosmetics giant said revenues came in at €6.47 billion ($7.34 billion) in the July to September period, up 6.2% as reported and rising 7.5% on a comparable basis.
"After an acceleration in the third quarter, with the highest quarterly growth rate for 10 years, L'Oréal's sales have shown strong growth over the first nine months of the year," commented chief executive Jean-Paul Agon.
Analysts polled by Inquiry Financial for Reuters had expected sales to rise 5.79%.
That marked a pick-up from the 6.3% pace of growth notched up a quarter earlier, as revenues from luxury products such as high-end Lancome creams expanded faster than expected.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
