The Estée Lauder Cos. said that its profit jumped about 45% in its second quarter as sales increased across product lines. The company also named a new North American president for its namesake brand.
For the fiscal second quarter ended Dec. 31, he company reported revenue of $138.3 million compared to $95.7 million one year ago. That included a writedown of $30.6 million for the sale of its jane unit in December 2003. Sales rose 8% to $1.75 billion from $1.62 billion. Sales of makeup and hair care products both rose by double-digit percentages for the quarter. Skin-care sales increased 8%, and fragrance sales jumped 3%.
In a separate development, Estée Lauder named Thia Breen, 54, president of the Estée Lauder brand in North America. The position takes effect this month.
She replaces Janet Cook, who retired last July. Most recently, Breen worked for Federated Department Stores Inc. where she oversaw the cosmetics business. However, Breen spent most of her career, from 1977 to 2001, at Estée Lauder, before departing for Federated.
For the first six months of the latest year, Estée Lauder sales rose nearly 10% to $3.25 billion from $2.97 billion.
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