Alberto-Culver Records 11th Consecutive Record Year

The Alberto-Culver Company today reported solid double-digit sales and earnings growth rates for the fourth quarter and total fiscal year 2002, ended September 30, marking the eleventh consecutive year that the company has reported record sales and record earnings.

President and chief executive officer Howard B. Bernick commented that both the company’s Sally Beauty businesses and its consumer packaged goods units had contributed to the strong sales and profit performances. “While we have been very pleased again in 2002 to be able to report excellent quarter- to-quarter performance throughout the year, it is our continuing intention to always invest for and focus on the long-term health of our businesses which continue to produce these results,” Mr. Bernick said.

The company’s record sales for the quarter were $697.9 million, an increase of 13.1% over the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2001. Record net earnings for the quarter were $39.3 million, an increase of 23.7% from the prior year.

For the total 2002 fiscal year, Mr. Bernick reported that sales had increased 11.4% to a record $2.65 billion from $2.38 billion last year. Net earnings for the fiscal year were $137.7 million, an increase of 24.7% from $110.4 million in 2001.

Mr. Bernick added, “We believe that we have the brands, the plans, the people and the focus that can carry us to our twelfth consecutive record sales and record earnings year in fiscal 2003.” However, he cautioned it would not be an easy year. “Given the recent slowdown in consumer spending, the financial markets’ volatility, the pressures on some of our trade partners and an uncertain international situation, fiscal year 2003 — like the one we just completed — may very well be another year of substantial challenge for all companies. Alberto-Culver has shown over its entire history that it can and does produce in good times and in bad times and we are working hard and investing to grow our business and our shareholder value over the long term,” he concluded.