Opening the announcement with good news, Chris Brickman, president and CEO of Sally Beauty Holdings, remarks, “we achieved solid results with full-year adjusted EPS growth of 12%.”
Over the past fiscal year the company opened over 150 (net) new stores. And according to Brickman, “in Sally, our in-store investments are mostly behind us and the Sally team is focused on the next phase of customer conversion and engagement….We expect revenue improvement from consolidated same store sales growth of approximately 3% and organic store openings of 2% to 3%.”
“Looking ahead to 2017,” he adds, “we are excited about our sales driving initiatives in both businesses.”
Two sides of one coin
Sally Beauty Holdings comprises two business segments: Sally Beauty Supply and Beauty Systems Group. Sharon Leite leads Sally Beauty Supply as that division’s president. Leite took on that role in February of this year, having previously served on the executive team for Pier Import and before that as the director of store operations and sales support at Bath and Body Works.
The Sally Beauty Supply segment of the business reported $2.36bn in sales for the year, a 1.5% increase from fiscal 2015. “This growth was [however] offset by the impact of unfavorable foreign currency exchange of $45.7 million, or 2.0% of sales,” according to the company press release. Additionally, “gross profit margin in the year was up as a result of selective price increases in certain geographical areas of the U.S.”
Beauty Systems Group saw better growth, gaining 5.5% over the previous fiscal year to end with sales of $1.59bn.
New leadership
Concurrent with the financial results, Sally Beauty Holdings announced the appointment of Donald Grimes as the company’s next chief financial and chief operations officer. Grimes previously held those posts at Neiman Marcus.
Brickman called Don “an accomplished executive with significant financial and operational expertise in the retail industry,” adding in the release that, “his broad experience will be an asset to us as we build upon our strategy and prioritize our opportunities for long-term growth.”