By Dominique Patton PARIS, Feb 12 (Reuters) - L'Oreal's fourth-quarter sales grew 6%, it said on Thursday, as strong demand for the group's haircare and perfumes in Europe and North America compensated for barely any growth in North Asia. The Paris-based owner of Maybelline make-up and Kerastase shampoo said sales for the three months to end-December came to 11.3 billion euros ($13.42 billion), up 6% on a like-for-like basis, versus expectations for a 6.3% rise in an analysts' consensus compiled by Visible Alpha. The French cosmetics group typically outperforms rivals thanks to its global presence and wide range of products spanning mass market makeup to luxury perfumes and skincare sold in clinics. But growth has slowed in recent quarters, with consumers in China opting for cheaper local brands, cautious shoppers in the U.S. curbing spending, while independent brands have been taking market share. Purchases of creams and makeup, however, have picked up in recent months in the top cosmetics market of the U.S., with L'Oreal executives previously pointing to strong sales during Black Friday. L'Oreal said its sales in North America rose 8.6% in the fourth quarter, above market forecasts, thanks to new product launches like L'Oreal Paris Plump Ambition lip oil. L'Oreal launched a 'beauty stimulus' plan last year to speed up bringing new products to market and drive sales. The company has taken market share in conditioners and shampoo as well as face creams, said JP Morgan analysts citing NielsenIQ data earlier this month. In North Asia, however, sales grew just 0.6%, well below an expected 5.6%. L'Oreal said travel retail remained "challenging", though the mainland Chinese market was "gradually stabilising". Shares in L'Oreal are up about 7% year to date, while beauty-to-hygiene products maker Unilever is up 10% and smaller peer Beiersdorf has gained 12%. L'Oreal's U.S.-traded shares were down 6.5% at 1715 GMT. ($1 = 0.8422 euros) (Reporting by Dominique Patton;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle) (The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)
