Ulta to open 100 stores in 2015 as Q4 tops forecasts

Bolingbrook, Ill. -- Ulta Beauty is running strong. On Thursday, the fast-growing beauty products and services retailer posted fourth quarter profit and revenue that topped Wall Street expectations, including an 11.1% jump in same-store sales. It also announced plans for 100 net new stores in fiscal 2015, for a 13% increase in total square footage.



Ulta reported net earnings of $87.3 million for the quarter ended January 31, up 21.6% from $70.7 million in the year-ago period.



Revenue jumped 20.7% to $1.05 billion, from $868.1 million last year.



Total same-store increased 11.1%, especially impressive on top of last year’s increase of 9.2%. The growth was driven by 7.7% growth in transactions and 3.4% growth in average ticket. E-commerce sales grew 55.2%, representing 230 basis points of the total company same store sales increase of 11.1%;



“Ulta Beauty wrapped up a very strong year of sales and profit growth with an excellent fourth quarter, which we are proud to celebrate as our first billion dollar sales quarter,” said Mary Dillon, CEO. “Our best comparable sales increase of the year was driven by accelerating traffic growth, continued strength in prestige and mass color cosmetics, a successful holiday selling season, execution of more effective marketing and CRM strategies, a double-digit comp in our salon business, and a 55% comparable sales increase in our e-commerce business.”



Ulta opened 100 stores last year, and ended the year with 774 locations.

For the year, the company reported profit of $257.1 million, and revenue of $3.24 billion.



For fiscal 2015, the retailer is forecasting same store sales growth of 6% to 8% and e-commerce growth of 40%.