Elizabeth Arden narrows losses on increased revenues
The company revealed that third quarter sales increased by 6.6 per cent to reach $231.3m, which represented organic growth of 5.5 per cent when excluding the favourable impact of foreign currency translation.
The result meant that the company was able to significantly reduce it losses, down from $3.86m in the third quarter of 2010, to reach $3.25m in the current quarter, which is approximately 16 percent lower.
Company CEO Scott Beattie said he was particularly encouraged by the gains the company had made in the domestic US market, underlining the fact that sales there had grown by 8 per cent during the period.
Solid gains in the US market
Sales in the US market were driven by what the company described as ‘solid gains’ in mass retail channels, the direct-to-consumer channel, as well as in US department stores.
"Net sales of our international business grew by 4 per cent for the quarter and by 9 per cent year-to-date,” Beattie said,
The figure for the international market reflects continued challenges in the many Western European markets where the company is present, which has been counterbalanced by a stronger performance in developing markets..
“The sales growth this quarter largely reflects timing of innovation and the relatively modest nature of our third fiscal quarter in general," Beattie continued.
"We continue to see strong momentum in our international business, and most of our markets are experiencing healthy retail sales performance."
Restructuring improves bottom line
The company is continuing to plough ahead with its restructuring progamme and says it anticipates continued improvements in its operations throughout the course of the financial year, which is expected to be further enhanced by refinancing initiatives that were carried out in the third quarter.
For the full nine months sales were up 5.3 per cent to $921.8m, while net loss is up from $17.24m to $35.59m – a figure that largely reflects restructuring and financing costs.
Looking ahead to the full financial year, the company said it expects sales growth to be with the original guidance range of 5.0 to 6.0 percent, while gross margin increase is expected to be at the upper end of the original guidance range of 223 to 250 basis points.
