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By Bloomberg

L’Oreal SA expressed confidence for 2015 after reporting a faster-than-expected acceleration in quarterly revenue growth, aided by demand for Yves Saint Laurent scents and a rebound at its consumer-products unit.

Fourth-quarter sales gained 4.9 percent on a like-for-like basis, Paris-based L’Oreal said Thursday in a statement after markets closed, topping the 3.6 percent gain estimated by analysts and the previous quarter’s 2.3 percent advance.

The performance provides a boost for Chief Executive Officer Jean-Paul Agon, who in November damped expectations for 2014 by predicting global cosmetics market growth would be closer to 3 percent than 3.5 percent. L’Oreal’s like-for-like revenue rose 3.7 percent last year, the slowest pace since 2009.

“L’Oreal saw all regions deliver growth above our expectations” in the fourth quarter, Andrew Wood, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said in a note. A 4.3 percent gain in western European like-for-like revenue was the best performance since the final quarter of 2007, he said.

The stock rose as much as 3 percent in early Paris trading Friday and was up 2.2 percent at 161.30 euros as of 9:18 a.m., extending this year’s gain to 16 percent.

The cosmetics maker is seeking to outpace the broader industry this year, according to Agon.

“In an economic environment that is uncertain, but more favorable on the monetary front, all our teams are focused to ensure L’Oreal outperforms the market in 2015, and to deliver sales and profit growth,” the CEO said in the statement. “We are looking to the future with confidence.”

Capital Gain

Full-year operating income rose to 3.89 billion euros, according to the world’s largest cosmetics maker, the same as the average of 27 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Total sales advanced 1.8 percent to 22.5 billion euros.

Net income for the year increased to 4.91 billion euros from 2.96 billion euros in 2013, L’Oreal said. The maker of Maybelline makeup made a capital gain of 2.1 billion euros from disposing of its half of skincare joint-venture Galderma as part of a buyback of 8 percent of its stock held by Vevey, Switzerland-based Nestle SA.