Ulta Beauty announced their third quarterly 2017 results for the thirteen-week period and the thirty-nine week period that ended Oct. 28, which compared to the same periods that ended Oct. 29, 2016.
“Our third quarter results clearly demonstrate the strength and distinct advantages of the Ulta Beauty business model,” said Mary Dillon, CEO. “We delivered double digit comparable sales growth, in spite of a moderation in the growth rate of our largest category – makeup – and meaningful disruption from hurricanes.”
For the third quarter, Ulta Beauty had lost sales due to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in both their net and comparable sales. The negative impact did not falter their growth rate to increase up to almost 20 percent. Ulta’s retail comparable sales increased 6.6 percent, including salon comparable sales growth of 3.8 percent. Their net income increased 19.5 percent to $104.6 million compared to $87.6 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2016.
For the first nine months, Ulta Beauty had net sales increased 20.5 percent to $2,946.9 million from $3,274.2 million. Comparable sales increased 12.1 percent compared to an increase of 15.4 percent in the first nine months of fiscal 2016. As well as retail comparable sales increased 8.6 percent, including salon comparable sales growth of 7.1 percent. Net income increased 28.8 percent to $347.1 million compared to $269.5 million in the first nine months of fiscal 2016.
Mary Dillon commented, “We flexed our merchandising and marketing plans, leveraged our consumer insights and CRM platform, and worked with our brand partners to create compelling offers for our guests. We also benefitted from the unmatched breadth of beauty categories and products we offer. These levers allowed us to drive significant share gains, continue to rapidly grow our base of loyalty members and thrive amidst shifting category trends within the beauty industry.”
The outlook for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017, the company currently expects net sales in the range of $1,926 million to $1,959 million, compared to actual net sales of $1,580.6 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016.
The company also reaffirmed its previously announced fiscal 2017 guidance. Some of the plans include achieving comparable growth of 10 percent to 11 percent (which includes the impact of the e-commerce business); growing e-commerce sales in the 50 percent to 60 percent range; opening approximately 100 new stores; remodeling 11 locations and relocating 7 stores—to name several.
