Avon's sales in Brazil grow 11% in USD

Sao Paulo-the Avon recorded 11% increase in sales in Brazil, the company's largest market in the world, in constant dollar, of which 2 percentage points were due to a tax benefit. However, if you disregard the effect of exchange rate variations the Brazilian unit's revenue fell 2%.
In Latin America sales were stable at $ 1.14 billion. The beauty, the main business of Avon, had 5% drop in sales in the first three months of the year, to $ 1.77 billion.
Avon does not disclose the net revenues by country. According to the company, the Brazilian unit had 26% high in sales of fashion items and House and 5% in beauty. The growth was accompanied by the increase of 4% in the number of dealerships, which already exceeds 1.5 million in Brazil.
Avon Products had net loss of $ 13.7 million in the first quarter of this year compared with profit of $ 26.5 million in the same period last year.
The loss was attributed to costs caused by restructuring, debt elimination and the devaluation of the Venezuelan currency, although its result set has surpassed expectations. NET restructuring costs, the currency impact caused by currency of Venezuela and other items, profit of Avon was $ 0.26 per share. Total revenue fell 3.6 percent on the same comparison, for $ 2.48 billion.
In a conference call with investors, Sheri McCoy, global CEO of Avon, said the performance in the first three months of the year reflects signs of stabilization, including the progress of efforts to reduce costs. "I am very satisfied with the performance of Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and especially with Brazil and Russia. Our teams in these countries are committed to ensuring that this performance is sustainable, "he said.
David Legher, President of Avon in Brazil, says that the results are due in particular to releases focusing on Brazilian consumer and the improvement in the level of service to resellers, as well as internal productivity gains that have led to a reduction in expenditure. "The Brazilian cosmetics market is very promising, which naturally attracts new starters, but I am sure that we are on the right track in 2013," he said.
About the Brazilian consumer-focused release, Kimberly Ross, Executive Vice President of finance at Avon, commented, on Investor Conference on Tuesday, 30, the good performance of the category of fragrances and cited the Candy lines, waters and Breezes and Luiza Brunet.