Strong fourth quarter not enough to prevent 2009 sales slump for Revlon
International - 03/03/2010

The most recent financial results published by Revlon show that a 3.1% increase in sales in the fourth quarter of 2009 failed to compensate for slow business in the first part of the year.

The company, which owns Revlon colour cosmetics, Almay, RevlonColorSilk hair colour, Mitchum anti-perspirant deodorant and Revlon beauty tools, reported fourth quarter net income of $12.8m on sales of $344.6m. However, net sales for the full year 2009 decreased 3.8% from $1346.8m in 2008 to $1295.9m and net income dropped a massive 15.7% to $48.8m as the company fell subject to $5.8m net charges related to early extinguishment of debt and foreign currency losses of $8.9m.

“These results demonstrate the continued execution of our business strategy,” commented Revlon president and ceo Alan T Ennis. “We continue to invest in our brands and had good marketplace performance, which included launching innovative, high quality, consumer preferred products.”

Revlon’s hair colour business performed particularly well, growing 13.8% in 2009 despite the women’s hair colour category in general declining 3.0%. New Revlon products in 2009 included Revlon ColorStay Minerals and its Revlon Age Defying Spa range. And the company has announced two colour cosmetic launches for the first half of 2010: Revlon PhotoReady Makeup, containing photochromatic pigments to reflect light, and Revlon ColorBurst Lipstick.

Source: cosmetics business