Sally Beauty posts strong results and investigates hacking
The company said that same store sales grew by 2.8% to $937,755, which compared to a 1% rise in sales during the same period last year.
Consolidated net sales grew by 2.0%, which included a negative impact of foreign currency exchange estimated at $21.5m, or 2.3% of the total sales.
EBITDA, adjusted for the fiscal 2015 quarter, was $154.4m, an increase of 4.3%, while net earnings were up 5.2% to $58.5m.
Beauty systems and beauty supply
The company’s two principle business divisions showed more divergence in the performances, with the mainstay beauty supply business posting consolidated net sales up 0.4% during the quarter to $572.1m, and the beauty systems sales during the period up 4.5% to $365.6m.
“We made solid progress on our initiatives and we are pleased with our financial results for Q2,” stated Chris Brickman, president and CEO. “Consolidated same store sales grew 2.8% and gross margin expanded by 20 basis points, resulting in 11% year-over-year growth in EPS.”
The results were positively impacted by growth in the company’s mani-pedi business, which has been born off the back of investments in the category.
Investigation over hacking
Following on from the announcement about its financial results, the company also revealed that it is investigating reports of unusual activity, related to payments made by cards at US stores.
The company says that as a result it is now working in full co-operation with law enforcement and its credit processor to help establish what the problem might be.
The announcement comes just over a year since it disclosed that its customer database had been hacked, affecting the records of more than 25,000 of its retail supplier customers.
