Alberto Culver reports strong sales gain on international revenues
For the quarter, sales grew by 6.1 percent during the period to reach $408.2m, compared to $384.8m in the corresponding period last year. The company said that on an organic basis, which discounts the positive effect of currency translation, sales grew by 4.3 percent.
The company said that the results were mainly driven by high single digit sales growth from its major beauty brands, including St. Ives, Simple, Nexxus, Alberto VO5 and TRESemme.
Sales in the US market grew by 1.9 percent, a figure, again driven by strong growth in the major brands, a performance that helped to offset a fall in revenues for the custom label manufacturing category.
International sales up 12 percent
On the international front, sales increased in every region that the company operates in, amounting to a total increase of 12.0 percent, which accounted for a positive currency translation of 4.4 percent.
As a direct result of the increased sales, net sales for the quarter rose by 6.4 percent to reach $36.5m, compared to $30.1m in the corresponding period last year.
For the first six months of the year sales increased by 8.8 percent to $813.6m, which represented an organic increase of 4.3 percent, while net earnings for the period rose by 32.6 percent to $84.1m, compared to $56.7m in the corresponding period last year.
CEO James Marino said he was pleased with the results, pointing out the fact that they come despite tough market conditions and the pending acquisition of the company by consumer giant Unilever.
Unilever acquisition
Last September Unilever confirmed that it was making the acquisition, which will see it acquire all of the outstanding shares of the beauty care firm for $37.50 per share in cash, valuing the company at approximately $3.7 billion.
Unilever, which already owns brands such as Dove, Sunsilk, Pond's and Vaseline, said the proposed acquisition of Alberto Culver would make it the world's leading company in hair conditioning and second largest in shampoo.
The global food and personal care company is confident the new brands will add to its portfolio and, in particular, enable its business in the UK to cover more price points across a number of categories.
