Inter Parfums, Inc. Reports 2016 First Quarter Results

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Inter Parfums, Inc. (NASDAQ GS: IPAR) today reported results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016.

First Quarter 2016 Compared to First Quarter 2015:

• Net sales were $111.5 million, up 2% from $109.2 million; at comparable foreign currency exchange rates, net sales increased 3%;
• Sales by European based operations rose 5% to $92.1 million compared to $86.7 million;
• Sales by U.S. based operations declined 14% to $19.4 million compared to $22.5 million;
• Gross margin was 63.9% of net sales compared to 61.9%;
• S,G&A expense as a percentage of net sales was 48.3% compared to 42.6%;
• Operating income was $17.5 million compared to $21.1 million;
• Operating margin was 15.7% compared to 19.3%;
• Net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc. was $7.3 million or $0.24 per diluted share compared to $10.0 million or $0.32 per diluted share; and,
• First quarter 2016 results include the effects of a pending settlement of a tax assessment with the French Tax Authorities in the amount of $1.9 million. Excluding the effect of the pending settlement, net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc. would have been $8.7 million or $0.28 per diluted share compared to $10.0 million or $0.32 per diluted share. A reconciliation of net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc. to adjusted net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc. appears on page 6 of this news release.

Discussing the Company’s European based operations, Jean Madar, Chairman & CEO of Inter Parfums, Inc., stated, “The top line growth in the first quarter was largely due to the extraordinary success of the Montblanc brand and the $6.4 million in incremental sales from the Rochas brand. As we reported last month, the launch of Legend Spirit was an important growth catalyst for the Montblanc brand, which achieved sales of $35.0 million, up 29% in dollars and 32% in local currency, compared to last year's first quarter. Jimmy Choo brand sales of $21.4 million were on par with last year’s first quarter as both periods benefitted from recent product launches and rollouts, namely 2016’s Jimmy Choo Illicit and 2015’s Jimmy Choo Man and Jimmy Choo Blossom. The weakened economies in Russia and China, two key markets for the Lanvin brand, depressed comparable quarter fragrance sales by 25% to $12.2 million. We hope to counter this trend with new flankers and seasonal scents debuting this year, as well as a new Lanvin women’s line planned for early next year. In addition to new fragrances for the Van Cleef & Arpels brand, we are extremely enthusiastic about our first ever women’s scent under the Coach brand coming to market this summer.”

With regard to U.S. based operations, Mr. Madar noted, “As the year progresses and we unveil our new fragrances for the Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister brands, as well as the new scents for the Oscar de la Renta and Agent Provocateur brands, we expect year-over-year quarter sales comparisons to improve. As we reported last month, our U.S. based operations set a high bar in last year’s first quarter with two major launches, Extraordinary by Oscar de la Renta and Icon by Dunhill.”

Discussing factors impacting profitability, Russell Greenberg, Executive Vice President and CFO of Inter Parfums, Inc., stated, “The improvement in our blended gross profit margin is attributable to our European based operations where the gross profit margin rose to 67.3% in the current first quarter from 64.7% in the first quarter of 2015. Approximately 40% of the increase is related to currency fluctuation, while the balance is the result of a favorable product mix, thanks in great part to our Rochas brand, which generated gross profit margins in excess of 75%. For U.S. operations, gross profit margin declined to 48.2% from 51.1% in the first quarter of 2015, as last year’s first quarter product mix had a larger proportion of high margin Oscar de la Renta and Dunhill brand sales. Selling, general and administrative expenses rose 15% from last year’s first quarter. Much of the increase associated with promotional and advertising expense was incurred in connection with our two largest brands, the Montblanc Legend Spirit launch and the Jimmy Choo Illicit continued geographic rollout.”

Mr. Greenberg continued, “While ‘other’ expenses, including interest income/expense and foreign currency losses, did little to move the profitability needle, the pending nonrecurring $1.9 million tax settlement recorded in the current first quarter, resulted in a 45% tax rate for the period. Excluding the settlement, our effective income tax rate would have been 34% for both the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015.”

He further explained, “As previously disclosed, the French Tax Authorities examined the 2012 tax return of Interparfums SA, our 73% owned subsidiary, and in August 2015 issued a $6.9 million tax adjustment. The main issues challenged by the French Tax Authorities related to the commission rate and Lanvin royalty rate paid to Interparfums Singapore Pte. and Interparfums (Suisse) SARL, respectively, both wholly-owned subsidiaries of Interparfums SA. Due to the subjective nature of the issues involved, in April 2016, Interparfums SA reached an agreement in principle to settle the entire matter with the French Tax Authorities. The settlement requires Interparfums SA to pay a tax assessment of $1.9 million covering the issues for not only the 2012 tax year, but also covering the issues for the tax years ended 2013 through 2015. The settlement also includes an agreement as to future acceptable commission and royalty rates, which is not expected to have a significant impact on cash flow. The settlement is subject to formal documentation with the French Tax Authorities.”

Mr. Greenberg also pointed out, “We closed the quarter with working capital of $352 million, including approximately $247 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, and $97.8 million of long-term debt associated with the Rochas acquisition last year.”

2016 Guidance Adjustment

Mr. Greenberg concluded by saying, “We continue to look for 2016 net sales to be in the range of $500 million to $510 million. Excluding the impact of the nonrecurring tax settlement, we would be on track to meet our net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc. goal of between $1.05 and $1.10 per diluted share; however inclusive of the tax settlement, we expect net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc. to come in between $1.01 and $1.06 per diluted share.” Guidance assumes the dollar remains at current levels.

Dividend

The Company’s regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 per share will be paid on July 15, 2016 to shareholders of record on June 30, 2016.

Conference Call

Management will conduct a conference call to discuss financial results and business developments at 11:00 AM ET on Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Interested parties may participate in the call by dialing [phone]; please call in 10 minutes before the conference call is scheduled to begin and ask for the Inter Parfums call. The conference call will also be broadcast live over the Internet. To listen to the live call, please go to www.interparfumsinc.com and click on the Investor Relations section. Please go to the website at least 15 minutes early to register, and download and install any necessary audio software. If you are unable to listen live, the conference call will be archived and can be accessed for approximately 90 days at Inter Parfums’ website. We suggest listeners use Microsoft Explorer as their browser.

Founded more than 30 years ago, Inter Parfums, Inc. is a premier fragrance company with a diverse portfolio of prestige brands that includes Abercrombie & Fitch, Agent Provocateur, Anna Sui, Balmain, Banana Republic, bebe, Boucheron, Coach, Dunhill, Hollister, Jimmy Choo, Karl Lagerfeld, Lanvin, Montblanc, Oscar de la Renta, Paul Smith, Repetto, Rochas, Shanghai Tang, S.T. Dupont and Van Cleef & Arpels. The fragrance products developed, produced and distributed by Inter Parfums are sold in more than 100 countries throughout the world.

Statements in this release which are not historical in nature are forward-looking statements. Although we believe that our plans, intentions and expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such plans, intentions or expectations will be achieved. In some cases you can identify forward-looking statements by forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would," or similar words. You should not rely on forward-looking statements, because actual events or results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of a number of important factors. These factors include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties discussed under the headings “Forward Looking Statements” and "Risk Factors" in Inter Parfums' annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015 and the reports Inter Parfums files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Inter Parfums does not intend to and undertakes no duty to update the information contained in this press release.

See Accompanying Tables

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (In thousands except per share data) (Unaudited)
	Three months ended March 31,
	2016			2015
Net sales	$	111,522		$	109,249
Cost of sales		40,205			41,639
Gross margin		71,317			67,610
Selling, general and administrative expenses		53,786			46,544
Income from operations		17,531			21,066
Other expenses (income):
Interest expense		973			158
Loss on foreign currency		714			2,006
Interest and dividend income		(1,354	)		(1,196	)
		333			968
Income before income taxes		17,198			20,098
Income taxes		7,750			6,793
Net income		9,448			13,305
Less: Net income attributable to the noncontrolling interest		2,114			3,298
Net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc.	$	7,334		$	10,007
Net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc. common shareholders:
Basic	$	0.24		$	0.32
Diluted	$	0.24		$	0.32
Weighted average number of shares outstanding:
Basic		31,039			30,979
Diluted		31,104			31,072
Dividends declared per share	$	0.15		$	0.13

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (In thousands except share and per share data) (Unaudited)
ASSETS
	March 31, 2016			December 31, 2015
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	151,462		$	176,967
Short-term investments		95,755			82,847
Accounts receivable, net		107,607			95,082
Inventories		112,889			98,346
Receivables, other		2,185			2,422
Other current assets		6,475			5,811
Income taxes receivable		116			100
Deferred tax assets		8,135			7,182
Total current assets		484,624			468,757
Equipment and leasehold improvements, net		10,235			9,333
Trademarks, licenses and other intangible assets, net		208,643			201,335
Other assets		8,575			8,234
Total assets	$	712,077		$	687,659
LIABILITIES AND EQUITY
Current liabilities:
Current portion of long-term debt	$	23,246		$	22,163
Accounts payable – trade		58,911			50,636
Accrued expenses		33,868			46,890
Income taxes payable		12,425			7,359
Dividends payable		4,656			4,035
Total current liabilities		133,106			131,083
Long–term debt, less current portion		74,551			76,443
Deferred tax liability		3,862			3,746
Equity:
Inter Parfums, Inc. shareholders’ equity:
Preferred stock, $.001 par; authorized 1,000,000 shares; none issued		--			--
Common stock, $.001 par; authorized 100,000,000 shares; outstanding 31,045,065 and 31,037,915 shares at March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively		31			31
Additional paid-in capital		62,361			62,030
Retained earnings		391,112			388,434
Accumulated other comprehensive loss		(34,448	)		(48,091	)
Treasury stock, at cost, 9,880,058 shares at March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively		(36,817	)		(36,817	)
Total Inter Parfums, Inc. shareholders’ equity		382,239			365,587
Noncontrolling interest		118,319			110,800
Total equity		500,558			476,387
Total liabilities and equity	$	712,077		$	687,659

Adjusted Net Income Attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc.

Adjusted Net Income Attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc., is deemed a “non-GAAP financial measure” under the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission. This non-GAAP measure is calculated using GAAP amounts derived from our consolidated financial statements. Adjusted net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc. has limitations and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for net income, operating income, cash flow from operations or other consolidated income or cash flow data prepared in accordance with GAAP. Because not all companies use identical calculations, this presentation of adjusted income may not be comparable to a similarly titled measure of other companies.

Adjusted Net Income Attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc. Reconciliation

Adjusted net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc. is defined as net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc., plus the pending nonrecurring tax settlement, net of the portion of the settlement attributable to the noncontrolling interest. We believe that certain investors consider adjusted net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc. a useful means of evaluating our financial performance. The following table provides a reconciliation of net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc. to adjusted net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc. for the period indicated.

In thousands except per share amounts
	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2016		2015
Net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc.	$	7,334	$	10,007
Pending nonrecurring tax settlement (net of portion attributable to the noncontrolling interest of $500)		1,400		--
Adjusted net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc.	$	8,734	$	10,007
Adjusted net income attributable to Inter Parfums, Inc. common stockholders:
Basic	$	0.28	$	0.32
Diluted	$	0.28	$	0.32
Weighted average number of shares outstanding:
Basic		31,039		30,979
Diluted		31,104		31,072