Sally Beauty Q2 Results Miss; Christian Brickman To Succeed CEO Winterhalter

(RTTNews) - Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. (SBH), a specialty retailer of professional beauty supplies, reported Thursday a 9.9 percent decline in second-quarter net earnings. Adjusted earnings and net sales missed analysts' estimates, despite higher same store sales.

Separately, Sally Beauty announced that Christian Brickman has been appointed as the new President and Chief Operating Officer, effective June 2.

Gary Winterhalter, the current Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, will continue in his current roles through April 30, 2015 or such earlier date as the Board may determine.

The company also noted that Winterhalter will work with the Board and Brickman to facilitate a transition of his duties and responsibilities as Chief Executive Officer to Brickman during this period.

Upon the successful transition of the role of Chief Executive Officer, Winterhalter has agreed to continue serving at the discretion of the Board as Executive Chairman of the Board through January 2018.

Brickman, age 49, will continue to serve as a member of the Board. He has been a member of the Company's Board since September 2012. He most recently served as President of Kimberly-Clark International, of Kimberly-Clark Corp., a role he held from May 2012 to February 2014.

For the quarter, Sally Beauty's net earnings were down to $58.49 million or $0.35 per share from net earnings of $64.89 million or $0.36 per share in the year ago quarter.

Adjusted net earnings, which excluded items, were $59.2 million or $0.36 per share. On average, 12 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.39 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Consolidated net sales were $919.47 million, an increase of 2.4 percent from $898.24 million a year ago. Analysts estimated revenues of $932.84 million for the quarter.

The sales increase is attributed to the addition of new stores and 1 percent growth in same store sales.

Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $148.0 million, a decrease of 0.3 percent from $148.4 million in the prior year.