Ulta Beauty surpasses 10 billion dollars in annual sales for first time

US beauty giant Ulta Beauty unveiled its Q4 and full-year FY22 results, in which it reported that it had seen its net sales increase 18.2 percent to 10.2 billion for the year due to the continued resilience of the beauty category, price increases, new brand onboarding and fewer pandemic limitations.

For Q4, net sales increased 18.2 percent to 3.2 billion dollars, while comparable sales also increased by 15.6 percent, driven largely by a 13.6 percent increase in transactions. Its net income went up 17.8 percent to 340.8 million dollars.

The retailer’s gross profit also rose 18 percent to 1.2 billion dollars and its operating income rose 19.2 percent to 447.6 million dollars.

Its diluted earnings per share rose 23.5 percent to almost seven dollars.

Ulta plans over 25 new stores for FY23

Next to crossing the 10 billion mark, Ulta Beauty reported that for the full-year, its comparable sales had risen 15.6 percent, while its gross profit increased 20.1 percent to four billion dollars.

Its operating income saw a rise of 26.3 percent to 1.6 billion dollars, while its net income increased 26 percent to 1.2 billion dollars.

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of Q4 stood at 737.9 million dollars, with merchandise inventories totalling 1.6 billion dollars, up from 1.5 billion at the end of Q4 FY21, largely due to the opening of 47 new stores since January 29, 2022.

For its FY23 outlook, Ulta said that it is expecting to still hit the 10 billion dollar mark, albeit possibly pushing it up to 11.05 billion dollars.

It added that it is looking at a four to five percent rise in comparable sales, with an operating margin of 14.7 to 15 percent.

Additionally, it stated that it was planning to open a further 25 to 35 stores, while also implementing 20 to 30 remodel or relocation projects.