Coty Beats Q4 Views

reported better-than-expected results for its fiscal fourth quarter on Thursday. The New York-based company posted quarterly net income of $21.0 million, or $0.05 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $20.1 million, or $0.05 per share. Excluding items, adjusted earnings jumped 167 percent to $0.08 per share. Its revenue declined 2.1 percent to $1.02 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.07 per share on revenue of $999.01 million. The average estimate among 3 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.08 per share and revenue of $1.01 billion. Its fragrance sales dropped 10 percent in the quarter, while color cosmetics sales climbed 13 percent. Skin & body care sales slipped 12 percent in the quarter. Sales gained 3 percent in the Americas, while EMEA sales dropped 7 percent. Asia Pacific sales rose 1 percent in the quarter. Adjusted operating income climbed 20 percent year-over-year to $60.0 million from $49.8 million. Bart Becht, Chairman and Interim CEO said, "2015 was a good year. We made meaningful progress on our strategy of driving revenue growth on power brands, while fueling profit growth behind efficiency programs. During the year, power brand net revenue growth, while still modest, was in the low single digits like-for-like, driven by Marc Jacobs, Chloe, Sally Hansen, Rimmel, and philosophy. On profits and margins, we made material progress over the last 9 months resulting in full year adjusted diluted EPS being up by 22%." The company also announced a $700 million share repurchase authorization. Coty shares fell 3.17 percent to close at $28.72 yesterday.