Ult beauty On Thursday, he issued a weak guide for next year, since it navigates a series of false inmates, growing competition and what he called “uncertainty of the consumer.”
The retailer, who appointed Kecia Steelman as his new CEO in January, said he expects comparable sales to be flat or grow 1% in 2025, while analysts had anticipated that they would increase by 1.2%, according to Streetaccunt.
The profits of the whole year are expected to be between $ 22.50 and $ 22.90, lower than the expectations of $ 23.47, according to LSEG.
It is the last company to forecast a difficult year. Although he considered the uncertain consumer expense in his guide, the retailer is also sailing for a series of specific challenges and opinions of the company as a year of transition. Fixing those problems will cost money, which is part of the reason why the profits are lower than Wall Street anticipated in next year.
“I have shared our plan to make important investments oriented to guests, which are necessary to improve our competitiveness and react the growth of long -term actions,” Steelman said in a call with analysts. “These investments will press profitability in 2025, but we believe they are criticism of promoting long -term sustainable growth in a competitive and innovative category.”
Actions increased 6% in extended operations.
This is how the beauty retailer did in his fourth fiscal quarter compared to what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a LSEG analysts survey:
- Profit per action: $ 8.46 vs. $ 7.12 expected
- Revenue: $ 3.49 billion compared to $ 3.46 billion expected
The company's net income for the company for the three -month period that ended on February 1 was $ 393 million, or $ 8.46 per share, compared to $ 394 million, or $ 8.08 per share, a year earlier.
Sales fell to $ 3.49 billion, approximately 2% of $ 3.55 billion the previous year. Like other retailers, Uulta benefited from an additional sales week in the previous year period, which has negatively biased results.
Beauty has been one of the brightest places in retail in recent years, but it has been left behind due to a series of self -inflicted challenges. The company's business has become more complex as it has grown, and it has encountered the launch of new compliance options, such as buying online, collecting in the store, delivers the same day and store ship.
“As a result, our presentation in the store and the experience of the guests today are not as strong as we would like,” said Steelman. “These are opportunities within our control.”
In January, Oult announced that his long -standing CEO Dave Kimbell would be replaced by his then main officer Steelman, who has been with the retailer for more than a decade. Her experience as a guru of operations makes her very appropriate to address some of the execution problems that have affected UULT.
During his first earning calls like CEO, Steelman was sincere about what he is doing well and what he is doing wrong. She said the company will spend next year restoring her business and working to recover the market share she has lost.
“The competitive environment in beauty has never been more intense,” said Steelman. “For the first time, we lost market share in the beauty category in 2024”.
During the quarter holiday quarter, comparable sales increased 1.5%, exceeding the expectations of a 0.8%growth, according to Streetacount. Customers spent more during the quarter, which resulted in a 3% increase in the average ticket, but fewer buyers reached the UAL stores to buy beauty products. Transactions during quarter decreased by 1.4%.
Part of that is likely because many more companies are expanding to beauty. Not only competes with the rival Sephora, but also massive retailers such as Macy's, Walmart and Amazon They have made beauty a cornerstone of their strategies and has expanded their selections of skin makeup and care products.
Last year, Uulta warned about a cooling beauty market, but companies such as Elfa beauty and Rarity I did not see similar dynamics, and beauty sales remained strong in retailers such as Macy's and Target.
Meanwhile, it has focused on increasing profitability. He managed to increase profits during quarter, even with a week of sale less.
