Coty Inc. shares COTY,
slipped 6% in Thursday’s trading after the cosmetics company posted far weaker-than-expected revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter as the coronavirus pandemic devastated sales. The company said it had a net loss of $ 722.8 million, or $ 1.01 per share, in the quarter, narrower than the loss of $ 2.799 billion, or $ 3.72 a share, in the year- previous period. The company’s adjusted loss excluding specialty items was 46 cents per share, wider than the consensus of 12 cents loss from FactSet analysts. Revenue fell to $ 560.4 million from $ 1.506 billion, below the $ 1.320 billion FactSet consensus. “The fourth quarter of Coty was marked by external shocks as the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a crisis in the real economy and supply,” Chief Executive Peter Harf said in a statement. “The serious contraction in sales for Coty as a whole, with revenues of less than 1.2 billion a year over the year, led to significant corporate waste during the quarter, even though the company focused all its efforts on protecting free cash flow that came in line with our expectations. “The company expects a” significant improvement “in the first quarter of fiscal 2021. Wella’s sale is on track to close in 2020 and the company aims to cut $ 200 million in costs in fiscal 2021 Shares have fallen 66% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX,
has won 7.7%.
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