Sales for beauty retailer Ulta boosted by new stores

Sales for the quarter went up 9.8 percent to $273.5m for the quarter ending August 1 but comparable store sales fell 1.7 percent.

The Illinois-headquartered retailer opened 13 new stores during the second quarter ending the period with a total of 333 stores and a retail floor space of 3,469,448 square feet, an 18 percent increase on the same period last year.

However, this number was lower than the company’s original expansion plan and the cost of these openings was $2m, $2.1m less than the cost of store openings in the second quarter of 2008.

Net income also increased for the company, growing from $3.7m to $5.8m which Ulta’s CEO Lyn Kirby said is partly due to ‘expense and working capital management initiatives’.

Although comparable store sales were down on the second quarter 2008, things were looking up in comparison to the first quarter of this year when the figure dropped by 2.3 per cent.

“We are pleased to deliver second quarter results that surpassed our expectations including a sequential improvement in comparable store sales and earnings from the first quarter,”​ Kirby said.

Market share gains​

In addition, the company president said dynamic marketing, new store growth and new brand introductions helped drive traffic and market share gains.

Looking to the future, Kirby was positive, stating that things were more stable than previous quarters.

“As we begin the second half of the year, the consumer environment remains difficult but appears to be more stable than earlier quarters,”​ she said.

In addition, she said the company would continue to work on initiatives to keep costs under control in an attempt to further drive profits in the second half of the year.