Reuters: Global Markets: L'Oreal open to strategic acquisition

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L'Oreal open to strategic acquisition Feb 12th 2013, 11:45 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News L'Oreal to buy back shares after sales rise Mon, Feb 11 2013 Related Topics Deals » Global Deals Review: 2011 Q3 » Global Deals Review: 2011 Q2 » Global Deals Review » Hot Stocks » Asian Markets » Inflows Outflows » Outside view of L'Oreal cosmetic company headquarters in Clichy, northern Paris, February 18, 2008. Credit: Reuters/Charles Platiau By Pascale Denis and Astrid Wendlandt PARIS | Tue Feb 12, 2013 6:45am EST PARIS (Reuters) - L'Oreal (OREP.PA), the world's biggest cosmetics group, said it was open to a strategic acquisition, a day after unveiling results at the top end of expectations and a 500 million euro ($669 million) share buyback. Chief executive Jean-Paul Agon said on Tuesday the French company had the "means and the guts to do it (takeover deal)", helped by a "war chest" - the company has 1.575 billion euros cash before the planned share buyback. Agon also told a news conference he expected the global cosmetics market to achieve "growth close to that of 2012" this year and the maker of Lancome creams and Garnier shampoo aimed to outperform the market and increase profit and sales. L'Oreal shares were up 4.3 percent at 6:35 a.m. ET, to be the top blue-chip riser in Europe .FTEU3. On Monday after the market closed, L'Oreal posted 2012 operating profit of 3.70 billion euros, against an average estimate of 3.66 billion in a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll. Full-year revenue of 22.5 billion euros, compared with a forecast for 22.3 billion. Its operating margin rose to 16.5 percent from 16.2 percent in 2011. "Most regions/businesses slightly over-delivered versus expectations," Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Andrew Wood said in a note, adding the luxury business had underperformed. "Despite lower than expected gross margins, L'Oreal delivered good operating margin growth driven by a big cut to advertising and promotion. As expected, for 2013 management gave generic guidance of growth faster than its markets, with sales and profit growth." The buyback was a "positive surprise," he said. L'Oreal also spent about 500 million euros buying back its shares last year following a break since 2008. (Editing by Dan Lalor) Global Deals Review: 2011 Q3 Global Deals Review: 2011 Q2 Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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