Stock Spotlight: L'Oréal's $2.5bn luxury beauty push is worth it

Betting on Asian market presence

L’Oréal’s recent acquisition of Australian luxury vegan beauty company Aesop for $2.5bn was positively received by analysts, who backed the French firm’s expansion into the high-end market.

The M&A deal, L'Oréal's biggest to date, positions the beauty giant towards a more luxury-focused brand, despite a cult following for its mass-market products. The brand's "biggest takeover" suggests it is "padding out its offering to help insulate against an increasingly tough market", according to Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. David Swartz, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, described it as a "strong addition to L'Oréal's luxury portfolio", given Aesop was a "fast-growing, highly-profitable brand". Stock Spotlight: Diageo's rum expansion has ma...