Ulta Beauty, Inc. has reported financial results for the 13-week, second-quarter period and 26-week period ended July 29, 2017, which compares to the same periods ended July 30, 2016.
 
“The Ulta Beauty team delivered another quarter of excellent performance with strong top line growth coupled with robust margin expansion,” said Mary Dillon, chief executive officer. “We accelerated our market share gains while continuing to reduce promotional intensity and increase personalized offers through our industry leading loyalty program. Product category strength was broad based, with prestige cosmetics still driving the majority of our growth, and with skincare, fragrance, and haircare all gaining momentum. We are also benefitting from continued success of our marketing programs, rapid growth in e-commerce, and solid operational execution across the enterprise.”
 
For the second quarter, net sales increased 20.6% to $1,289.9 million from $1,069.2 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2016. Net income increased 26.9% to $114.2 million compared to $90.0 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2016.
 
Comparable sales (sales for stores open at least 14 months and e-commerce sales) increased 11.7% compared to an increase of 14.4% in the second quarter of fiscal 2016. The 11.7% comparable sales increase was driven by 5.5% transaction growth and 6.2% growth in average ticket;
 
Retail comparable sales increased 8.3%, including salon comparable sales growth of 7.7%;Salon sales increased 15.3% to $68.0 million from $59.0 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2016; e-commerce sales grew 72.3% to $96.3 million from $55.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2016, representing 340 basis points of the total company comparable sales increase of 11.7%; gross profit as a percentage of net sales increased 40 basis points to 36.4% from 36.0% in the second quarter of fiscal 2016, due to improvements in merchandise margins and leverage in fixed store costs.
 
For the first six months, net sales increased 21.6% to $2,604.7 million from $2,142.9 million in the first six months of fiscal 2016.