L'Oreal profits up 10.8% in 1H

L'Oreal, the world's largest cosmetics maker, said Tuesday its first half net profit rose 10.8 percent from a year earlier to 1.625 billion euros ($2.04 billion) and confirmed its forecasts for 2012. "Bolstered by these results, and despite the uncertainties of the economic environment, we confirm for 2012 our ambition to outperform the market, and achieve another year of growth in sales, results and profitability," chief executive Jean-Paul Agon said in a statement. Operating profit in the six months to June was 1.90 billion euros, with operating margins at 16.9 percent, up slightly from 16.8 percent during the same period last year. In a conference call, spokesman Thierry Prevot said "new markets", that exclude North America and Europe, for the first time became the leading driver of sales accounting for 40 percent of the group's turnover over the period. Prevot said the development was "historic".