Estée Lauder's turnover drops

Strong impact from exchange rates

Estée Lauder’s net turnover dropped 7.4 % to 2.52 billion dollars (2.3 billion euro), with make-up sales down 3.7 % to 1.02 billion dollars (920 million euro) for the quarter. Excluding exchange rate fluctuations, there would have been a 3 % turnover increase. Skin care products performed even worse, as sales dropped 16 % to 1.01 billion dollars (910 million euro), which would still have been a 9 % drop if exchange rates are excluded.

In the fourth quarter, Estée Lauder’s profit dropped from 257.7 to 153 million dollars (140 million euro), resulting in 40 cents per share. Analysts had predicted only 34 cents per share for a 2.57 billion dollar (2.32 billion euro) turnover.

For its current quarter, Estée Lauder expects a 13 to 14 % turnover increase, prior to exchange rate fluctuations, and for its full fiscal year, the company hopes to get an 8 to 10 % turnover increase. Profits should follow similar lines, which is well below analyst profit growth expectations at 16 %.