Jean-Paul Agon, after taking on the responsibility of becoming the chairman of L’Oréal group, in addition to his existing role of Chief Executive Officer, has begun addressing the media and analysts on the financial health of the company. Discussing the financial results of the last quarter, Agon, held a three hour conference on Friday at the Paris suburb of Clichy. He stated that the worldwide cosmetics market returned to growth in 2010 with an estimated increase of four percent. Reviewing the company’s recent financials, L’Oréal’s fourth-quarter 2010 sales were reported to have risen by 11.4 percent to 5 billion euros, or $6.77 billion at average exchange. The company’s full-year net profits spiked 24.9 percent to 2.24 billion euros, or $2.98 billion, and its sales in the period climbed 11.6 percent to 19.5 billion euros, or $25.89 billion. He further stated that for 2011, the worldwide cosmetics market gain could be in the order of three percent to around four percent. L’Oréal is set to open subsidiaries in Saudi Arabia and Nigeria during 2011. “In the medium and long term, we are very confident about the sustainable development potential of the cosmetics market, whose global growth may even accelerate because of the increasingly important weight of the new markets in which the emergence of the middle class is boosting the consumption of beauty products,” said Agon, referring to markets outside of Western Europe and North America.
Source: http://www.wwd.com/
