Q3 Sales Rise 11% at Yankee Candle

Yankee Holding Corp. and The Yankee Candle Company, Inc. posted promising financial results for the third quarter ended Oct. 1, 2011.Sales for the third quarter rose 11% to $195.1 million.Retail sales jumped 6.6% to $84.9 million, while sales in the company’s wholesale segment increased 9.2% to $83.2 million.Sales in the company’s international segment, which is being reported as a separate business segment beginning in 2011 after previously having been included in the wholesale segment, rose 35.6% to $27.0 million.

“We were able to deliver solid, double-digit sales growth in the third quarter, despite a consumer environment that remains very uncertain,” said Harlan Kent, the company’s chief executive officer.”We continue to see strong growth in our investment areas, including our international and consumer direct businesses and new stores.”

For the nine months ended Oct. 1, 2011, retail sales rose 3.4% to $232.7 million, driven primarily by sales in new stores opened after the third quarter of 2010 and increased sales in the consumer direct division. Wholesale sales stayed almost flat at $168.8 million. International sales jumped 37.1% to $67.6 million.

“As we head into the important Holiday season we remain focused first and foremost on executing our plans,” said Kent.”We are seeing strong traction in several of our key investment areas, have a terrific Holiday product assortment and merchandising programs, and feel good about our ability to quickly fulfill replenishment orders.Early indications on mall traffic seem to be steady, but we remain cautious about consumer sentiment and about the high level of promotional activity in the marketplace.We also remain focused on generating strong free cash flow during this seasonally high volume fourth quarter.”