Sales were up 11.8 percent to $384.8m, compared to $344.3m in the corresponding period last year. However, in organic terms the sales only rose by 1.2 percent, underlining the major gains from positive currency translations.
Net earnings were up by 7.3 percent to $30.14m, compared to a figure of $28.07m last year, a figure that underlined healthy sales gains in its overseas markets.
Leading brands drove sales
Alberto-Culver CEO James Marino said that the strong sales had been driven by the strength of its leading brands and gave a special mention to TreSemme, which has been helping to drive sales both in the US and the international markets.
However, despite the positive impact of the brand on US sales, overall sales in this market were down 1.7 percent, which the company said was largely due to lower than normal customer service levels, partly caused by supply chain and systems disruptions.
However, with international sales increasing by 38.7 percent, with currency gains as well as acquisitions and divestures accounting for 31.7 percent of that figure, the group sales results looked strong.
Speaking about the overall performance, Marino said: “This comes in the face of a sluggish global hair care category and the impact on our US business from manufacturing and supply chain issues.”
Disruption to customer service levels set to continue
However, while Marino said that ‘solid progress had been made in restoring customer service levels’, the company is still expecting the disruptions to continue into the current quarter.
On a six month basis, net sales increased by 7.3 percent to $747.8m, up from $697.2m in the corresponding period last year. The figure represented an organic increase of 0.6 percent, underlining the positive effect of acquisition and divestures.
Net profits for the six month period were up 11.7 percent to $66.7m, from $59.7m in the same period last year.