Cosmetics giant Estee Lauder says strong sales in Asia underpinned a solid 18 per cent increase in sales in the latest quarter, from US$2.86 billion to $3.37 billion.

Net earnings surged 25 per cent to $372 million as Asian consumers gravitated towards more expensive brands in the company’s portfolio, especially Tom Ford and La Mer.

The company said all of its brands showed sales growth in Asia, with China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines the strongest-performing markets.

Fabrizio Freda, president and CEO said the company expects “an outstanding fiscal year”.

“Many areas of our business that contributed to our strong first-half results continued to thrive in our third quarter. Among our multiple engines of growth, travel retail, online and Asia again were standouts, and we experienced strong momentum in other high growth channels and markets.”