Elizabeth Arden Announces its Q3 Fiscal Results

Elizabeth Arden, Inc. reported its financial results for its third fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2011, with the company announcing net sales of $231.3 million, an increase of 6.6%, as compared to the third quarter of the 2010 fiscal year. Excluding the favorable impact of foreign currency translation, net sales increased by 5.5%.

E. Scott Beattie, chairman, president and CEO of Elizabeth Arden, Inc., commented, "We are encouraged by the broad based revenue growth in North America this quarter. Net sales of our North American business increased by 8% and are up 4% year-to-date. Sales results this quarter were bolstered by solid sales gains across our mass retail, direct-to-consumer and U.S. department store businesses. Net sales of our international business grew by 4% for the quarter and by 9% year-to-date. The sales growth this quarter largely reflects timing of innovation and the relatively modest nature of our third fiscal quarter in general. We continue to see strong momentum in our international business, and most of our markets are experiencing healthy retail sales performance."

Beattie continued, "We also continued to execute against our global efficiency re-engineering initiatives and delivered another quarter of improvement in our key operating metrics. For the quarter, gross margins increased by 260 basis points and EBITDA (adjusted) margins grew by 210 basis points on a year-over-year basis."

Additionally, for the nine months ended March 31, 2011, the company reported net sales of $921.8 million, an increase of 5.3%, or an increase of 5.4% excluding the unfavorable impact of foreign currency, as compared to the prior year period.

With this report, Elizabeth Arden affirms its prior annual net sales and earnings guidance for fiscal 2011 and anticipates a net sales increase of 5–6%, as compared to the prior fiscal year, and earnings to be in the range of $1.40–$1.50 per diluted share. The company expects the gross margin increase for fiscal 2011 over fiscal 2010 to be at the high end of its guidance range of 225–250 basis points, and cash flow from operations for fiscal 2011 to be between $75 million and $80 million. The company will introduce fiscal 2012 guidance in August 2011 when it reports its fourth quarter and fiscal 2011 financial results.

Click here for more information on Elizabeth Arden's third quarter 2011 fiscal report.

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