Net sales rose 2.8 percent to $422.4m for the three months ending December 31, with the weakness of the North American market putting a brake on growth.
Sales in the region actually fell 2 percent for the first half of the year.
Elizabeth Arden had been expecting growth of 4.5 percent in the region but the deteriorating economic climate kept people away from the beauty check-outs.
However, growth in international markets and the global launch of Mariah Carey's new fragrance 'M' helped compensate for declining North American sales.
International sales increased by 20 percent at constant exchange rates helped by the weak dollar, which added 6 percentage points to the rise.
Profitability
Meanwhile, profits increased at a significantly higher rate than turnover as cost of sales fell and margins widened.
Operating profit rose 23 percent for the quarter to $53.3m and net profit increased to $33.8m from $25.8m last year - a rise of 31 percent.
"The strength of our international business and our focus on operating efficiencies enabled us to achieve our earnings and operating margin targets for this quarter despite a difficult holiday season in North America," said Elizabeth Arden CEO E. Scott Beattie.
Looking at the company's results for the first six months of the fiscal year, sales rose 4.3 percent to $694.2m while operating profit grew to $61.2m from $48.9m last year.
Expectations
With regards to the whole fiscal year, the company is expecting sales to increase 3 to 4 percent.
"For the balance of this year, we expect softness in North America and continued strength in our international business," said Beattie. "Our expectations for our international performance are based on the prior investments we have made to expand and improve profitability in Europe, Asia Pacific and travel retail."
Elizabeth Arden specializes in skin care and fragrance and has achieved great success in recent years with celebrity endorsed lines counting the fragrances of Britney Spears, Danielle Steel and Mariah Carey.
The company is now looking to exploit the designer market after signing a licensing agreement last week with to make fragrances, cosmetics and skin care products with the Italian fashion designer Alberto Ferretti.
