Beiersdorf caps strong week for luxury goods Beiersdorf was the best performing stock on pan-European indices on Friday, and capped a strong week for the region's luxury goods groups as the cosmetics maker reported a strong third quarter. The German maker of Nivea products climbed 6.3 per cent to €60.19 on Friday after the company raised its full-year targets for sales and earnings. This followed third-quarter results that showed core profit jumped 30 per cent to €185m, beating expectations of €170m. The shares were up 6.7 per cent over a week that proved positive for the outlook on the luxury goods sector. On Thursday, Richemont, the Swiss jeweller, was boosted by an upgrade from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch. The broker said the maker of Cartier jewellery was one of the cheapest stocks, yet fastest growing companies in its sector. Richemont, which reports its third-quarter results next Friday, rose a further 1.3 per cent to SFr64.20, adding to its 4.7 per cent gain on Thursday and taking its weekly advance to 6.5 per cent. German fashion group Hugo Boss on Tuesday reported that recovering Chinese sales would help it back to double-digit sales and earnings growth in the fourth quarter, after reporting flat third-quarter profits. The shares were up a further 1.5 per cent to €79.55 on Friday, taking the weekly gain to 8 per cent. Overall, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.2 per cent to 1,112.3 as investors cautiously awaited non-farm payrolls employment data from the US. Earnings in the energy sector this week underlined how higher prices for refined products were helping drive margins for the European oil majors. In the UK, BP reported that higher refining margins would enable it to raise its dividend by 12.5 per cent, while Anglo-Dutch group Royal Dutch Shell reported similar effects. France's Total joined the chorus, saying its 20 per cent rise in third-quarter profit was largely down to higher refining margins as heating oil and diesel prices rose. The company said its margin on turning crude oil into refined fuel products was the best it had seen since September 2008. Shares in Total rose 0.5 per cent on Friday to €39.21 and were up 1.5 per cent over the week. Shares in Alcatel-Lucent slumped 7 per cent on Friday to €0.77 after a rise in costs left it nursing a second consecutive quarterly loss. The telecoms group's operating loss widened to €125m in the third quarter after a loss of €31m in the second. Over the week, the shares were down 4.5 per cent.