InterParfums Posts 14.3% Rise in Annual Sales

Inter Parfums, Inc. reported that for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2018, net sales soared 18.5% to $177.2 million from the final quarter. For the full year, net sales rose 14.3% to $675.6 million.

On the subject of US based operations, Jean Madar, chairman & CEO of Inter Parfums, noted, “GUESS was added to our brand portfolio in April 2018, and has quickly become one of our largest U.S. based brands. In addition to the inclusion of GUESS fragrances, the 24.4% increase in 2018 fourth quarter sales reflects gains by the Anna Sui, Oscar de la Renta and Abercrombie & Fitch Co. brands. For the full year, the largest sales gains were achieved by Anna Sui and Abercrombie & Fitch, which along with incremental GUESS fragrance sales, produced the more than 20% top line improvement by U.S. based operations.”

He continued, “We recently unveiled our first new Rochas scent for men, Moustache, soon to be followed by Montblanc Explorer and later in the year, we will debut new men’s fragrances for Jimmy Choo and Dunhill. For women, we have a new Lanvin scent called A Girl in Capri in the pipeline, the debut of our first Graff fragrance collections and our foray into direct-to-consumer online sales with the Lily Aldridge collection. We also have a new fragrance duo rolling out for the Abercrombie & Fitch brand. While major new product launches are catalysts for our sales growth, we also expect established scents and brand extensions to continue to be important contributors to our top line.”

Discussing European based operations, Madar stated, “The final quarter was even better than expected, resulting in a 16.8% comparable quarter sales increase. Our four largest brands, Montblanc, Jimmy Choo, Coach and Lanvin, grew sales by 2.7%, 55.2%, 22.5% and 28.1%, respectively, in the closing quarter of the year, especially notable in the absence of a major brand launch. For the full year, these brands posted 1.4%, 8.5%, 73.3% and 7.1%, sales gains.”

Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer Russell Greenberg said,  “With sales coming in better than expected, we have raised our 2018 guidance range … to expect net sales of approximately $705 million.”