Alberto Culver Company, manufacturers and marketers of beauty care brands including TRESemme, Alberto VO5, Nexxus,St. Ives, Simple and Noxzema, has announced growth in sales and diluted earnings per share from continuing operations. Net sales for the first quarter increased 2.9% to $363.0 million compared to $352.8 million in the prior year quarter. On an organic basis, which excludes the effect of foreign currency fluctuations and acquisitions and divestitures, sales were flat in the quarter.

Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations were 37 cents in the current quarter compared to 32 cents in the prior year quarter. Excluding restructuring and discrete items, primarily transaction expenses related to the acquisition of Simple Health & Beauty Group Limited, diluted earnings per share from continuing operations increased 12.2% to 46 cents compared to 41 cents in the prior year quarter.

Commenting on the results, Alberto Culver president and chief executive officer V. James Marino said, “While the hair care category remains soft, trends are slowly beginning to improve and we continue to gain market share. Sales growth was particularly strong in our international segment, even with a very strong performance in the prior year quarter.”

In the U.S., despite market share gains and continued solid growth on TRESemme, reported sales declined 2.5% versus a difficult comparison against the prior year first quarter where sales increased 8.0% (including 4% growth from last year’s Noxzema acquisition). International sales on a reported basis increased 12.3% (foreign currency fluctuations accounted for 8.5% of the growth) behind double-digit growth on TRESemme and St. Ives.

The company’s gross profit margin was 53.4% in the first quarter compared to 51.6% in the prior year quarter. Gross margin improved primarily as a result of lower commodity costs. “We are very pleased with our gross margin improvement as it provides leverage to increase our advertising investments in our core beauty care brands,” commented Marino.

Advertising and other marketing investments in the first quarter increased to $50.1 million compared to $49.4 million in the prior year quarter. The increase resulted primarily from double-digit increases in TRESemme and St. Ives. Marino added, “In the quarter, we increased our investments in aggregate on our core beauty care brands and we continued to benefit from lower media rates.”

Selling and administrative expenses as a percentage of net sales increased 80 basis points to 21.5% in the first quarter compared to 20.7% in the prior year quarter. The increase was mainly due to prior year foreign currency transaction gains that did not repeat in the current quarter. These increases were partially offset by cost savings initiatives and lower transportation costs and stock-based compensation expenses.

Carol Lavin Bernick, executive chairman of the company, said, “While market conditions remain challenging, our business model continues to generate profitable growth. Our focus and consistent strategy of driving growth in our core beauty care brands is a major contributor to our success. Our December acquisition of Simple, a U.K.-based leading skin care brand, builds on that strategy, further strengthens our beauty care portfolio and creates additional growth opportunities.”