Estée Lauder Companies has reported Q3 net sales of $2.86 billion, a year on year increase of 8 percent, boosted by a strong performance in the company’s make-up category.  

The better-than-expected results were largely attributed to the success of the company’s newly acquired brands Too Faced and BECCA, which are targeted at the millennial consumer group and contributed to around half the sales growth.

Net earnings meanwhile increased 12 percent to $298 million while shares for the ELC were up 4 percent at close of play on Wednesday. Brands such as Tom Ford and Smashbox reported double digit growth to help boost sales while own-brand Clinique also attributed to the company’s success.

Fabrizio Freda, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We delivered an excellent third quarter performance. Sales accelerated across every geographic region and in our three largest product categories, reflecting the range and strength of our brand portfolio and product offerings. Our business in global travel retail and in China was exceptionally strong, driven by strong sales gains in virtually every brand. Our mid-sized and luxury brands, as well as online and specialty-multi retail channels, also led growth.”

The company has also achieved success thanks to ‘further penetrating the speciality-multi channel globally’ while opening freestanding stores in international markets in a bid to reach new customers. Looking to the future, Estée Lauder is set to further capitalize on the continued demand for prestige products.

Freda continued, “We will continue to seize opportunities in the most promising areas of prestige beauty and expect our sales growth to continue to accelerate in our fourth quarter, capping another strong fiscal year. In our fiscal fourth quarter, we plan to increase targeted investment spending behind the greatest opportunities to further our momentum into fiscal 2018.”