Shares in Coty rose 17 percent to a two-month high of US$28.83 last Thursday as the US beauty giant announced a US$500 million share repurchase authorization of its Class A common stock in the face of strong second quarter results for fiscal 2016.

Coty beat analysts’ estimates with a 10 percent rise in color cosmetics sales to US$374.8 million for the three months ended December 31, offset by a 9 percent fall in fragrance sales (US$627 million), combining for a 3.9 percent drop in overall sales to US$1.21 billion, above the expected US$1.20 billion.

“Our efforts right now are all about creating a very healthy platform for Coty to become a strong global leader and challenger in the beauty industry that we aim for it to be. This quarter, we made great progress on that objective on the merger & acquisition front and the underlying Coty business side,” commented Coty Chairman and Interim CEO Bart Becht.

Coty completed the acquisition of Hypermarcas’ beauty and personal care brands on February 1, 2016 and has received regulatory approval in the US for its P&G Specialty Beauty Business transaction, with the transfer of 10 of P&G’s fragrance licenses completed. The merger is on course for completion in the second half of this year, according to Coty.

“We believe we are well on track to build a very healthy platform for Coty to become a global leader and challenger in the beauty industry and provide the right basis to drive profitable growth and deliver shareholder value over time going forward,” added Becht.