Boston, MA 03/14/2014 (wallstreetpr) – With the economy improving, it seems people are ready to spend money on themselves. The 4Q2013 revenues of Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) rose to $868 million representing a growth of 14.4% compared to 4Q2012.
Revenue rising
The company’s strategic decisions appear to have succeeded. It benefited by introducing 25 popular brands in its stores. Its e-commerce sales skyrocketed 82.5%. Revenue for FY2014 increased by 20.3% on a YoY basis to reach $2.67 billion. The company is maintaining a growth curve with the addition of 127 stores to reach a total of 675 stores. It plans to add 100 more stores to its chain this year. The store growth is spread across various categories: some of the new stores will be in a new market and others will be in existing markets. One-third of the stores will be in new buildings whereas two-thirds of the stores will be in existing shopping centers. The e-commerce component grew by 83% compared to the previous quarter. The company expects e-commerce to grow further in FY2014 (though ‘only’ in the 50% to 60% range).
Total sales for FY2013 were $868.1 million compared to $758.8 million for FY2012. Gross profit increased 13.1% to $293.6 million. Net income increased 9.5% to $70.7 million.
The company has a lot of plans in progress right now to grow their business in 2014. They look upon their customer base as consisting of a segment that is confident about spending money on premium products and another segment that is looking at saving money. Ulta is configuring its products and marketing strategy to appeal to both the customer segments.
With a reinvigorated customer loyalty program and changes to their stores and salons, Ulta expects to remain on the growth path for many years to come. Even severe weather events such as Sandy did not have any serious deleterious effects on the company’s top line or bottom line.
