Inter Parfums Q4 sales down

Inter Parfums has reported net sales of ongoing brands (excluding Burberry brand sales) to US$433m for 2013, an increase of almost 23%, and a 19% rise to $105.5m for the fourth quarter of the year, compared to Q4 2012.

However, the reported net sales were 40% below the $176.9m reported in Q4 2012 when Burberry sales aggregated $88.1m, the company said. “Comparing like quarters has not been particularly meaningful since the fourth quarter of 2012,” said Executive Vice President and CFO Russell Greenberg. “This is primarily due to the termination of the Burberry licence in December 2012 and its associated gain, which was immediately followed by a transitional 2013 first quarter when we sold off much of the Burberry inventory and recorded exceptionally high levels of Burberry brand sales, but incurred virtually no associated advertising and promotion expenses. The decline in the fourth quarter gross margin reflected the absence of Burberry product sales.”

He added that further promotion and advertising investment was made in support of new product launches for the Repetto and Boucheron brands and the continued worldwide development of the company’s largest brands Lanvin, Jimmy Choo and Montblanc. “Nevertheless, our 2013 bottom line was actually better than we anticipated, with net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc. coming in at $1.27 per diluted share, ahead of the $1.23 we had forecast.”