Elizabeth Arden misses by $0.66, misses on revs; expects modest improvement in FY15 EPS; announces Rhone Capital have agreed to purchase $50 mln of redeemable preferred stock
Reports Q4 (Jun) loss of $1.04 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.66 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.38); revenues fell 28.4% year/year to $191.7 mln vs the $241.64 mln consensus.
- While the Company had expected weaker sales comparisons due to the lower level of fragrance launch activity in fiscal 2014 versus fiscal 2013, the decline in sales of celebrity fragrances, particularly the Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift fragrances, was steeper than anticipated. The inventory destocking at a number of non-prestige customers that impacted the Company's 2014 third fiscal quarter results continued through the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 and led the Company's shipments to be below the rate of retail sales.
- Outlook Details: Fiscal 2015 will be focused on stabilizing the business and will be the first year of a multi-year plan to rebuild profitability. The Company expects a modest improvement in adjusted earnings for fiscal 2015 (FY14 Actual: ($0.55)... FY15 Capital IQ consensus $0.93) over the prior year with continued improvement in fiscal 2016.
- Strategic Investment by Rhone Capital: Rhone Capital agreed to purchase $50 million of redeemable preferred stock of the Company and also will receive warrants to purchase 2.5 million shares of the Company's common stock at an exercise price of $20.39 per share, representing approximately 7.6% of the Company's outstanding common stock on an as-exercised basis.