Ulta Salon CEO: Not Focused On Being Acquired

Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. ULTA opened strong Friday and continues to make new lifetime highs on back of stronger-than-expected fourth quarter resulted.

Mary Dillon, Ulta Beauty CEO, was on CNBC Friday to discuss what's driving company growth.

Just Getting Started

"We think that we have a great recipe here for women who want to discover the fun of beauty. Although we started 25 years ago, and right now I think we are only just getting started. So if you come into an Ulta store, you'll have a experience that's just a playground of possibilities, and our guests are really responding to that."

Related Link: Ulta Beats Q4 Expectations, Shares Surge

Location Matters

Dillon was asked about if Ulta Salon is getting a lot of traffic because many stores are located outside the mall. She replied, "I really believe that's just part of the genius of our model that we have always really been in places that we call power centers, lifestyle centers. They are very convenient to drive up and park and shop really as a destination and that has proven to be quite successful for us.

"In fact, we are opening 100 new stores every year for the next five years, and the majority of those will be in those kind of locations."

Not Focused On Being Acquired

On whether the company is open to being acquired, Dillon said, "I am not focused on that, because we think we have got great growth path plan that we have just communicated for a really strong five-year plan. It'll go well beyond that obviously, but it's a competitive marketplace.

"We think the way for us to win is to continue to do what we do best, which is bringing, we are on this quest to bring the fun of beauty to our guests and that's really working for us."