Lex专栏：欧莱雅股票美不美？_时事_双语阅读-查字典英语网

Lex专栏：欧莱雅股票美不美？

“The universalisation of beauty is how Jean-Paul Agon, L’Oréal chief executive, describes his company’s mission. The market reaction to its first-half results on Wednesday was anything but beautiful. The shares fell 4 per cent as investors fretted about margin growth.

“普及美丽，这是欧莱雅(L’Oréal)首席执行官让-保罗·安巩(Jean-Paul Agon)对其公司使命的描述。该公司周三发布的上半年业绩报告却不那么美。随着投资者对利润率增长感到担忧，其股价下跌了4%。

That might be a sign of things to come – with consumers becoming more choosy, L’Oréal and its peers have to spend more on advertising and promotion to keep sales growing. At least L’Oréal has some leeway – at 17 per cent, its operating margins are already in advance of peers such as Estée Lauder and Beiersdorf (both on 13 per cent).

这可能是一系列事情的预兆——随着消费者变得更加挑剔，欧莱雅和业内同行不得不在广告和促销方面增加开支以保持销售增长。欧莱雅公司至少还有一些空间——其营业利润率为17%，已经超过同行企业如雅诗兰黛(Estée Lauder)和拜尔斯道夫(Beiersdorf)，两者均为13%。

But, like overgenerous application of L’Oréal’s make-up, excessive attention to quarterly changes in margins can obscure the bigger picture. For L’Oréal there are two wider questions. The first is what it will do with its balance sheet. Net debt was €4.5bn four years ago, but the company now has net cash and a newly announced €500m share buyback programme will not stretch its finances. So acquisitions are on the agenda and, although Mr Agon is coy about targets, he says he wants to buy products that will create organic growth. With market growth of only 4 per cent expected this year, that looks smart.