Elizabeth Arden hit by retail slump

Nicole Mezzasalma

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The supplier registered a 4% drop in sales to $210.6m in the first three months of 2008

Beauty supplier Elizabeth Arden has announced that net sales in the three months ended March 31 fell by 4% to $210.6m compared with the same period of 2007. For the nine months to March 31, net sales rose by 2.3% to $904.8m compared with the previous year. The company said the figures reflect “weakness in the consumer and retail environment in North America and in the UK”. However, the poor performance was partly offset by good results in travel-retail and developing markets.

Elizabeth Arden president and CEO E Scott Beattie said: “Despite a weak consumer and retail environment, we were still disappointed with our results this quarter. While we were not expecting any improvement in the retail environment this past quarter in North America, we did not anticipate the extent of the negative retail sales trends. The pace of our international business, particularly in the UK, slowed this past quarter, after delivering 20% growth in the first half of this fiscal year, and was not able to offset these negative trends.”

He added: “For the balance of the year, we remain cautious with respect to our business in North America and the developed markets in Europe. We do expect this softness to be offset somewhat by a solid pipeline of new brands to North American retailers and continued excellent performance in the Asia/Pacific region and in our travel-retail and developing markets, which now represent over 50% of our international business."