Revlon Posts a Wider Quarterly Loss

Revlon Inc. posted a wider quarterly loss, as it retired debt and took other steps to shore up its balance sheet, according to a Reuters report. The New York-based company, which has struggled under a heavy debt load, said the net loss in the first quarter totaled $58.2 million, or 63 cents per share, compared with a loss of $48.7 million, or 91 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

Results for the latest quarter include a loss of $33 million for early debt retirement. The company completed a debt-for-equity exchange during the quarter that reduced debt and increased equity by more than $800 million. As a result, there were 92.9 million shares outstanding in the latest quarter, compared with just 53.5 million a year earlier.

Yesterday, the company announced it intends to privately place with qualified institutional investors approximately $400 million in aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes due 2011, which will be guaranteed by current and future domestic subsidiaries on a senior unsecured basis. The company also expects to enter into a new amended and restated credit facility, which will replace its existing credit facility and provide borrowings of approximately $680 million, of which approximately $530 million is expected to be a term loan facility, with the balance being a multi-currency revolving credit facility. This will be consummated in May 2004.

Quarterly sales rose 6% to $308.4 million. In North America, net sales grew by 1% to $206 million. International sales jumped 18% to $102 million, although much of the gain came from the effects of a weak dollar. Excluding the benefit of the weak dollar, which increases the value of foreign sales when they are converted into dollars, international sales were up 4%.