“Avon Products Inc., the world’s largest door-to-door cosmetics seller, reported fourth-quarter adjusted profit that topped analysts’ estimates as new Chief Executive Officer Sheri McCoytrimmed costs.
Excluding items such as restructuring charges and costs to impair some assets, profit was 37 cents a share, the New York- based company said today in a statement. That exceeded the 27- cent average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
McCoy, who took over in April, is cutting about 1,500 jobs and leaving the South Korea and Vietnam markets as part of a plan to save $400 million by the end of 2015. The company today said it had reduced operating expenses because of lower brochure, overhead and advertising costs.
“Earnings growth will become visible in the second half of 2013 as the strategies of new CEO Sheri McCoy are implemented,” Connie Maneaty, an analyst at Bank of Montreal in New York, wrote in a Feb. 11 note. She rates the shares outperform, the equivalent of a buy.
The net loss widened to $162.2 million, or 37 cents a share, from a loss of $400,000, or breakeven on a per-share basis, a year earlier, the company said. Sales fell 1.4 percent to $2.96 billion. Analysts estimated $3.01 billion, on average.
The shares rose 2.6 percent to $17.28 yesterday in New York. Avon fell 18 percent last year, its third straight annual decline.”
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