06.01.16
Estée Lauder (ELC) reported results for its fiscal third quarter ended March 31, 2016 and announced a new initiative—Leading Beauty Forward—designed to continue driving sales, reduce costs and enable new organizational capabilities. The initiative will include a reduction in employees.
Net sales for the company’s third quarter ended March 31, 2016 slipped 3% to $2.66 billion.
“On the strength of our unique brands and agile execution, we posted constant currency sales gains in all our regions and most of our product categories and channels,” said Fabrizio Freda, president and chief executive officer of the company.
Quarterly results were again highlighted by strong top line growth in international business, driven by higher sales in virtually every market. Freda said he was particularly pleased with the acceleration of both the company’s e-commerce business and social media initiatives, which are helping to drive brand engagement around the world.
“Flexible business model, reflecting disciplined resource allocation and improved expense leverage, helped achieve bottom line results ahead of our forecast,” according to Freda. “We are committed to continuing to target investment spending behind our brands and our greatest opportunities to foster global growth.”
He said that in view of the firm’s performance to date and “our positive outlook for the balance of the year, we are reiterating our expectation for adjusted constant currency sales growth of 7% to 8% and earnings per share growth of 10% to 12%, before charges, for the 2016 fiscal year.”
Total operating income in constant currency, before charges, increased 4%.
Net sales for the company’s third quarter ended March 31, 2016 slipped 3% to $2.66 billion.
“On the strength of our unique brands and agile execution, we posted constant currency sales gains in all our regions and most of our product categories and channels,” said Fabrizio Freda, president and chief executive officer of the company.
Quarterly results were again highlighted by strong top line growth in international business, driven by higher sales in virtually every market. Freda said he was particularly pleased with the acceleration of both the company’s e-commerce business and social media initiatives, which are helping to drive brand engagement around the world.
“Flexible business model, reflecting disciplined resource allocation and improved expense leverage, helped achieve bottom line results ahead of our forecast,” according to Freda. “We are committed to continuing to target investment spending behind our brands and our greatest opportunities to foster global growth.”
He said that in view of the firm’s performance to date and “our positive outlook for the balance of the year, we are reiterating our expectation for adjusted constant currency sales growth of 7% to 8% and earnings per share growth of 10% to 12%, before charges, for the 2016 fiscal year.”
Total operating income in constant currency, before charges, increased 4%.