Filed under: Earnings reports

Women of a certain age and socio-economic demographic know Elizabeth Arden Inc. (NASDAQ: RDEN) as a purveyor of prestige beauty products and luxurious day spas. Fortunately for the company, many of those women live outside the U.S. and have yet to be affected by the slowdown in consumer spending. International growth for the company increased 20%, while net sales in the U.S., including the December holiday pampering season, declined 0.5% with weak holiday sales at upscale department stores.

Boosted by international sales, net income increased $8.9 million to $33.8 million, or $1.15 per share. Despite the soft holiday quarter reported January 31, the company is sticking with its previous guidance of diluted EPS $1.65-1.75, up $0.29-0.39 over FY2007. Net sales are forecast to increase in the low single digits — not the most dramatic forecast.

Elizabeth Arden is tightening its supply chain and increasing the sale of higher profit margin products in its international markets. The company will introduce new fragrance brands in 2008, including the fragrance M by Mariah Carey to appeal to younger customers. Investors do not seem to be much impressed with these new initiatives. The stock has dropped almost 6% over the weekend.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 11:38 pm and is filed under Stocks Money News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.