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Estee Lauder Companies Inc (EL -1.61%)
Q1 2019 Earnings Conference Call
Oct. 31, 2018, 9:30 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Estee Lauder Companies Fiscal 2019 First Quarter Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded and webcast.
For opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to the Senior Vice President of Investor Relations, Ms. Rainey Mancini.
Rainey Mancini -- Senior Vice President, Investor Relations
Good morning. On today's call are for Fabrizio Freda, President, and Chief Executive Officer and Tracey Travis, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Since many of our remarks today contain forward-looking statements, let me refer you to our press release and our reports filed with the SEC, where you'll find factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. To facilitate the discussion of our underlying business and commentary on our financial results and expectations is before restructuring and other charges, changes to the provisional amounts related to the recently enacted US tax law, the new accounting standard for revenue recognition, and other adjustments disclosed in our press release.
You can find reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP figures in our press release and on the Investor section of our website. During the Q&A session, we ask that you please limit yourself to one question so we can respond to all of you within the time scheduled for this call.
And now, I'll turn the call over to Fabrizio.
Fabrizio Freda -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Rainey, and good morning everyone. Our fiscal year is off to an excellent start as our multiple engine of growth, once again, drove double-digit sales and earning per share gains, reflecting strengths across our categories, brands, markets, and channels.
Strong double-digit advances in many areas of our business, enhanced by targeted investments drove comparable sales growth of 11%, our sixth consecutive quarter with a double-digit increase. We leveraged our strong top line growth and benefited from ongoing disciplined cost management fueled by our Leading Beauty Forward initiative which led to diluted earning per share climbing more than twice that rate, up 24%.
With this strong results and confidence in our ability to execute effectively, we are raising our EPS guidance for the year. We now expect EPS growth of 10% to 12% in constant currency on sales growth of 7% to 8% which is at the top of our long-term sales goal.
The macro environment was particularly challenging this quarter, with the initial impact of tariffs in Europe and China, a softer UK beauty market stemming from concerns about Brexit, and the closure of some department store doors including Bon-Ton in the US and House of Fraser in the UK. Despite these factors and overall volatility, we not only delivered our sales and financial targets, we exceeded them.
Our success was widespread throughout our business and driven by the strengths of our diverse brand portfolio, innovation, and growth engines in every region and channel. Many brands grew double digits including three of our four biggest brands Estee Lauder, MAC and La Mer reconfirming the power and desirability of strong established brands.
Many markets delivered robust growth. In the Asia region; China, Hong Kong, Japan and every country in Southeast Asia advanced by double digit. In China, our sales accelerated. Consumer demand for our products was also vibrant in our other emerging markets excluding China. Importantly, our retail sales growth in the United States turned positive and global e-commerce and travel retail posted significant increases.
A sharper focus on strategic innovation drove our brand growth, particularly in the most popular hero franchises. Deeper analytical insights are giving us a greater understanding of consumer needs by market and amplifying our innovation power. We developed high-quality products for targeted consumer groups and a diversity of skin types that attracted new consumers and achieved strong repurchase rates.
We supported our innovations with increased digital advertising and influencer attention. That enhanced storytelling led to higher awareness, traffic and sales. Our strong innovation program is a sustainable growth engine that is broad-based, flowing across all our brands and geographies.
In skin care, our Estee Lauder brands' hero franchises drove impressive growth. The brands' Advanced Night Repair franchise increased nearly 50% globally, fueled by new supercharged hero product. In Asia-Pacific, sales of the new eye gel soared.
La Mer was a star in our portfolio. Its sales climbed double digits in every region on strong demand for luxury skin care and new launches, including its Treatment Lotion Hydrating Mask, which boosted its global mask business. The brand is number one in luxury skin care in North America and in the UK and gained share in both markets, also reflecting loyalty from devoted consumers.
Clinique skin care business grew globally, supported by new innovation and established favorites. To accelerate one of its key product lines, Clinique launched a unique Hydrating Jelly in its Dramatically Different moisturizer franchise. Initial sales are exceeding our projections.
Clinique also modernized its historical ingredient philosophy, making it more relevant for today consumers. We are also excited about a new Clinique skin care innovation that will launch in December and can be personalized for each consumer's needs.
Another brand with strong global skin care sales was Origins. Thanks to its moisturizer and hero products. Origin is riding the growing wave of interest in natural beauty products and with its strong positioning, is leveraging demand with new innovations.
Innovation and creativity in makeup contributed to MAC's success in the quarter. Its global growth was led by its international business and reflected its focus on bigger innovation with more impact. Its new Powder Kiss lipstick brought renewed attention to the brand's coveted lipstick collections. It was developed by MAC artists backstage and launched during Fashion Week in New York and Milan.
Estee Lauder brand also achieved excellent growth in makeup. Sales of its Double Wear Foundation, its biggest makeup franchise, increase more than 20%, aided by shade extension and a new product in the line, as it continues to serve and appeal to all skin types worldwide with a broad range of shades and formats.
Too Faced retail sales in North America rose sharply, driven by new shades of Born This Way Foundation and Super Coverage Concealer. Too Faced gained share in the US and its Better Than Sex Mascara continue to be the best selling prestige mascara in the market.
In fragrance, launches from several of our luxury and artisanal brands resonated with consumers, including Tom Ford Beauty's Ombre Leather and a range of scents from By Kilian called MY KIND OF LOVE that was created for specialty-multi in North America and Western Europe. Estee Lauder introduced Beautiful Belle in advance of the holiday season.
Combined sales from brands we had acquired over the past few years rose significantly. We are expanding their target consumer reach by entering new markets, further penetrating equity building channels, while at the same time developing new products and integrating them into our operations.
Our pioneer digital strategy continues to support our brands in many ways. In terms of e-commerce, all three platforms brand.com, retail.com and third-party sites advanced sharply. Our 200 brand sites generated double digit sales growth and also have become powerful equity building vehicles.
Our brand site alone attracted nearly 90 million global visits in the quarter, making them also highly valuable media assets. For perspective, we estimate that those consumer visits were worth $250 million in advertising equivalent, demonstrating effective and efficient new ways that our brands have to engage with consumers worldwide.
We continue to expand our brands on third-party platforms. We successfully launched Jo Malone on Tmall in China and five more brands on ASOS in the UK, a destination that attracts millennials.
Another rapidly growing areas was our global travel retail business which continued its fast pace, driven by broad-based growth across brands and countries. Eight of our Top-10 brands grew double digits at retail in the channel and many key travel retail markets further accelerated growth, including the UK, Italy, Germany, and Turkey.
This success contributed to our strong double-digit retail and net sales growth far -- far outpacing the 6% rise in international passenger traffic. Travel has increased among many consumer groups including Russians, Middle Easterns, Chinese and Nigerians helping to increase demand in the channel.
Our travel retail channel also benefited from successful launches, effective marketing and exclusive products. We expanded distribution for our artisanal fragrance brands which is helping to increase our share in the European region in travel retail. We are making good progress on increasing passenger conversions with new products.
We believe that our travel retail business will continue to benefit in the long term from favorable fundamentals, including growing passenger traffic, increased conversion of passenger to shopper, and a broader equity building distribution of our new brands.
Emerging markets excluding China were also a strong growth drivers, advancing double digits, with the biggest gains in the Middle East, Russia India, Turkey and Southeast Asia. Finally, we are pleased that our North America results were also encouraging. Our overall retail sales in the US turned positive. If we exclude Bon-Ton, this was the fastest growth rate in the more than two years.
Our push into fast-growing channels is continuing to have a bigger impact, specialty-multi and online, especially retail.com grew rapidly. In addition, we improved our business with our department store customers.
We expect a solid holiday season as we roll out exciting programs. Estee Lauder's blockbuster promotion hits counters and online sites in the US tomorrow and our brands have created compelling set in innovation that we believe will drive traffic.
The risk of moderation of prestige beauty growth in China, particularly in the second half of our fiscal year is included in our full-year guidance to reflect the possible volatility stemming from the current geopolitical and economical environment. However, I want to be clear that we have not seen any slowdown and luxury cosmetic historically had been less sensitive to the variability of economic trends because they are an affordable luxury. In fact, our net sales in China this quarter further accelerated and our strong double-digit growth came from many drivers. Our brands, like those sales were robust. We gained share in our department store distribution and sales in specialty-multi, freestanding store and online grew even faster. Our e-commerce business reached consumers in the many cities where we have no brick-and-mortar distribution, leveraging our efficient model.
In addition, we achieved that double-digit growth across every brand and every product category. Our efforts to diversify our business are being successful, as our makeup and fragrance growth surpassed skin care growth. Importantly, our repurchase rates are strong, illustrating the equity of our brands and consumer appreciations for our products.
We have a long-term focus in China. We have invested there for two decades. It's an important part of our-long term emerging market strategy and we plan to continue growing market share and serve our Chinese consumer with the highest quality products. We continue to be encouraged by attractive long-term demographic and economic trends in China as millions of new consumers enter the market.
Their rising middle class aspires to luxury and today millennials and Gen Z consumers will have much more disposable income than past generations, particularly, as more women enter the workforce. We believe demand for beauty in China and other emerging markets will continue to rise over the long term.
In summary, we achieved terrific progress this quarter. Most brands grew in three of our largest climbed claim at double digits including the MAC which has gained more traction. Retail sales in the US turned positive, generating encouraging business improvements. Many countries had higher sales and emerging markets were strong overall.
Our business in the Middle East, which had been depressed, started improving. Sales in China accelerated, global online and travel retail continue to increase sharply. Our innovations created a stronger hero franchises and attracted new consumers.
With these strong results to start the year, we are confident about our near and long-term prospects. Our diverse brand portfolio, strong innovation pipeline and vast global reach supported by local insights and analytics should continue to fuel our success.
We have the flexibility to invest where we see the best growth opportunities and are confident in the ability of our leadership team and talented employees to execute our strategy with excellence. We are well positioned to outperform global prestige beauty, deliver strong sales gains, and generate double-digit growth in EPS this year and over the long term.
Now, I will turn the call over to Tracey.
Tracey T. Travis -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Fabrizio, and good morning everyone. First, I will review our fiscal 2019, first quarter financial results and then cover our expectations for the second quarter and for the full year.
My commentary today excludes the impact of restructuring and other charges and adjustments, including those related to our Leading Beauty Forward Initiative and the recent US tax legislation. All net sales growth numbers are in constant currency and comparable accounting methods, unless otherwise stated. As a reminder, we adopted the new accounting standard for revenue recognition ASC 606 this fiscal year on a modified retrospective basis. For the first quarter, the impact decreased our sales growth by 2 percentage points, our operating profit growth by 5 points, and our EPS by $0.06.
Net sales for the first quarter were up 11% with virtually all regions and product categories contributing to growth. From a geographic standpoint, our Asia-Pacific region led net sales growth this quarter. Sales rose 29% and most markets saw double-digit increases. Sales in China and Hong Kong rose very strong double digits with broad-based growth across brands, categories and channels.
Prestige beauty growth in department stores in China continued to grow more than 20% and we gained share, while sales in specialty-multi and online more than doubled. Our strong growth extended beyond China and Hong Kong. We also achieved excellent sales growth in Japan where we experienced growth across all channels including department stores specialty-multi and online. Taiwan and Malaysia were also up double digits and we had single-digit growth in Australia.
Net sales in our Europe, the Middle East, and Africa region rose 16%, driven by strong double-digit increases in our global travel retail business in emerging markets in the region. All three geographic regions within travel retail group, led by corridors across Asia.
Strong like door growth drove the majority of the increase and was supplemented by additional points of sale, particularly for our less distributed brands. Our emerging markets growth in the region was led by the Middle East, Turkey, Russia and India. The Middle East had significant net sales growth, following the reset that we did last year, but the underlying retail trend continues to be challenging, reflective of the area's economic situation.
In Western Europe, Italy remained a bright spot while lower consumer sentiment in the UK pressured brick and mortar retailers. This was seen most acutely in House of Fraser, one of our largest department store customers in the UK as they reorganize under new ownership.
Debenhams is also experiencing some challenges, as they announced last week, and we are prudently supporting them as the holiday season begins. Our online business in the UK continued to grow double-digits. In other Western European markets, our business was relatively flat, in line with prestige beauty in the area.
Net sales in the Americas declined 2%. North America continued to achieve double-digit growth in specialty-multi retail and in online -- all of online, which offsets declines in mid-Tier department stores and freestanding stores.
Excluding prior year sales to Bon-Ton, our sales in North America increased slightly, better reflecting the retail improvement Fabrizio mentioned. Latin American sales declined as a tough environment in Brazil and Mexico overshadowed strong growth in the Andean countries.
Skin care continued to lead product category growth this quarter. Net sales grew 21% with strong contributions from the innovations previously mentioned within hero franchises in the Estee Lauder, Clinique and La Mer brands. Net sales in makeup grew 6% led by strong innovations and launches in Foundation and Lip from Estee Lauder and MAC. Sales of fragrances rose 2% as gains in luxury and artisanal brands were partially offset by declines in designer fragrances and Estee Lauder.
Le Labo launched its city-exclusives fragrance set online, continued its strong comp door growth and expanded its targeted consumer reach. Our hair care sales rose 7%, primarily driven by Aveda's strong innovation and its acceleration of online sales.
Our gross margin declined 160 basis points compared to the first quarter of last year, due primarily to the impact of new accounting standards which negatively impacted our gross margin by 220 basis points through the reclassification of samples, testers and collateral to cost of goods from operating expenses. This decline was partially offset by favorable skin care category mix and pricing of 100 basis points.
Operating expenses as a result -- operating expenses as a percent of sales improved 250 basis points, largely due to the 180 basis point impact of the new accounting standard for revenue recognition. For the remainder of expenses, we continue to reallocate expenses smartly to drive the business with flexibility, fueled by savings from our Leading Beauty Forward initiative.
Lower selling, general and administrative expenses improved our expense margin by 210 basis points, allowing us to invest more in advertising behind strong innovation to fuel growth. We continue to optimize our marketing mix to maximize returns on investment across all areas. We have found that our increase in digital advertising broadly has been highly effective with the return on investment that is meaningfully higher than traditional media.
Operating income rose 13% and operating margin increased by 90 basis points. Excluding the impact of the new accounting standard, operating income rose 18% and operating margin increased 140 basis points. Our effective tax rate this quarter was 20.9% primarily reflecting the lower US statutory rate and favorable geographic mix of earnings.
Diluted EPS of $1.41 increased 17% compared to the prior year and grew 19% in constant currency. Earnings per share for the quarter included $0.02 of unfavorable currency translation. Diluted EPS excluding the impact of the accounting change was $1.47, an increase of 22% compared to the prior year or 24% in constant currency. EPS was higher than expected due to the stronger sales growth and a favorable tax rate.
During the quarter, we utilized $119 million in net cash flows from operating activities, which was below the prior year, due primarily to timing differences in shipments and receivables and we invested $128 million in capital expenditures. We used $530 million to repurchase 3.8 million shares of our stock and paid $141 million in dividends. We also announced this morning, a 13% increase in our quarterly dividend to $0.43 per share and an increase in our share repurchase authorization by 40 million shares.
Now, let's turn to our outlook for next year and the full year -- next quarter and the full year. We've obviously had a solid start to the first -- the fiscal year but we recognize that a variety of macro risks including pre-Brexit sentiments and post-Brexit potential implications, political instability in many areas around the world, and soft economies in certain markets create an ongoing level of uncertainty in many parts of our business.
As you know we adopted the new revenue recognition accounting standard beginning this fiscal year and the guidance we are providing today reflects the impact of the new method which reduces our sales and EPS growth due to deferral of recognition of certain revenue and associated profit related to some promotional activity.
We've also bridged to the comparable growth expectations we have for the business for ease of comparing -- comparable business performance. For the year, we remain comfortable with our sales growth expectation of 7% to 8% in constant currency, and excluding the impact of the new accounting standard.
This does assumes some moderation of growth in China in travel retail in the second half, reflecting the current geopolitical and economic risks. It also reflects the previously announced door closings of certain department store locations in the US and the UK. Currency translation is expected to negatively affect reported sales growth by 2 percentage points, reflecting weighted-average rates of 1.17 for the euro, 1.31 for the pound, and 6.87 for the yuan for the fiscal year. And the new accounting standard is expected to negatively affect reported growth by 1 percentage point.
We now expect our effective tax rate to be approximately 23%. We're raising our EPS expectations to a range of $4.73 to $4.82 before restructuring and other charges. This includes the impact of known tariffs globally, including the planned increase in China in January as well as approximately $0.20 of dilution from currency translation and $0.02 dilution from the new accounting standard. In constant currency and with comparable accounting, we expect EPS to rise by 10% to 12%.
For the second quarter, net sales are expected to increase approximately 8% to 9% in constant currency and using comparable accounting. Currency translation and the accounting change are each expected to negatively impact growth by 2 percentage points. Therefore, we expect reported net sales to grow between 4% and 5%.
EPS is forecasted between $1.47 and $1.50 before restructuring charges. This includes about $0.03 dilution from currency and $0.11 dilution from the new accounting standard. With a strong start to the fiscal year and with our first quarter behind us, we are focused on delivering another successful full-year of solid top line growth, margin expansion, and double-digit EPS increases, thereby generating strong returns for our shareholders.
And that concludes our prepared remarks. We'll be happy to take your questions at this time.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
The floor is now open for questions. (Operator Instructions) Our first question today comes from Dara Mohsenian, Morgan Stanley. Dara, your line is open.
Dara Mohsenian -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Hey, good morning guys. Sorry about that. So Fabrizio, you were pretty clear that the fiscal 2019 guidance now assumes more onerous external assumptions in China in travel retail given the external environment despite the internal momentum. I was hoping you could also take that out to more sort of a longer-term basis as you look out over the next few years.
And A; maybe just on a backwards-looking basis give us some historical context for how much of the top line momentum in these two areas have been driven by macros more recently in the last couple of years versus more enduring factors just to help us conceptualize the macro risk?
And B; going forward, can you talk a little bit about how you can proactively manage or adapt your strategies in those two areas or even maybe at the corporate level elsewhere in the organization, if the macro pressure materialize, particularly given the inventory swings in China in travel retail historically, which can often exacerbate a retail sales slowdown. So again, that sort of beyond fiscal 2019 as you look longer term? Thanks.
Fabrizio Freda -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yes, it's a long question. Let me start from the '19 part of your question which was the second part and then I'll address the long term. So we're recognized that given the external environment, there is a risk that China TR moderate growth and there is a risk of tariffs. So we have, frankly, already recognized that risk in the August guidance.
However, we have prudently grown the protection of our estimates from that risk this time because obviously we didn't pass all the bitter costs that that went on, which increased our protection of this risk to materialize.
Is this risk, that's non-materialize, obviously we had the opportunity to do better and that's the way we look at it. And we have also internal flexibility to answer more directly your questions to move -- fan resources to the most appropriate growth opportunity, depending on what we see. And we have, with our leadership team, organized ourselves to be ready to allocate resources depending on the situation externally and depending on the rate of return of our innovation and our initiatives.
So that's the way we are organized. In term of the long-term is, we frankly believe that the China market will continue to be a market that will grow at double-digit over the long-term. And this is going to be driven, as I said in my prepared remarks, by many external factors, meaning demography, growth of middle class, women work, young generation purchasing powers, and the amazing -- amazing interest for luxury beauty in the Chinese consumers, that will not change. It will not be changing because of economic trends; may be variable or volatile because of economic trends in the short term or because of tariff's implication or any other aspect, but will not change, in our opinion, for the long-term.
So, we are assuming that a double-digit growth of China at travel retail will be part of our long-term potential in terms of growth. But also, we have demonstrated in these quarters that to reach a 6% to 8% growth for the long-term, we do not need an over-delivery of China travel retail. We are just implying that travel retail in China to continue while we define and normalize long-term growth, and we will be able to deliver our long-term 6% to 8%.
And the many other engines of growth are also helping that last data point. If you take our email results and you exclude UK short-term issues for Brexit, as Tracy underlined, and you exclude the TR positive impact, you are left with plus 7% growth which is exactly in the middle of our long term 6% to 8%, just to make the point.
Operator
Our next question comes from Lauren Lieberman, Barclays.
Lauren Lieberman -- Barclays -- Analyst
Thanks, good morning I was hoping you could talk a little bit about MAC. So MAC being called out for double-digit performance, I know Middle East was a big part of it. So some is probably refilling -- sort of the reset you're done in the Middle East on route to market. Can you just talk about performance for MAC in the US, both online separate from mid-Tier department stores? What you're seeing in terms of -- you've talked about hero products, bigger innovation -- what is it strategically that's driving some change in that business? Thanks.
Fabrizio Freda -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yes, thank you. MAC is improving sequentially its performance. This is definitely in the quarter in the short-term as the positive implication to restocking the Middle East and to the improvements of the trend in the Middle East for MAC is very important, but those are to speak about the negatives, there is also -- there is the negative that Brazil is another important market for MAC which is -- was not very active in this quarter.
So there are positive and negative also internationally. The drivers start becoming many, meaning China continue to be a great driver, Asia in total continue to be a great driver. TR continue to be a great driver and many other emerging markets and markets in Europe, Italy for example, that we have mentioned, as for the overall business, is one of the best performing markets for MAC and to your question, we continue to see.
Operator
There will be a slight delay in today's conference, please hold. Ms. Mancini, you may proceed.
Rainey Mancini -- Senior Vice President, Investor Relations
Okay, Lauren?
Lauren Lieberman -- Barclays -- Analyst
Yes. So I think you were -- yes, we talked about Brazil, emerging markets, Italy.
Fabrizio Freda -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yes, I was speaking about -- so you dropped when I was speaking that there was the positive to Middle East that you highlighted but there was also some negatives, like Brazil is not yet back, but obviously also for external environment situation.
But I was also mentioning the positives for MAC that we have China, TR, every single Asia market, Italy, and I was speaking about the improvements in the US in specialty-multi, in online and I was saying that these improvements are also generated by a more focused innovation plan with fewer initiatives, bigger and focused on the key drivers. And I've made the example of lipstick, but we have also big example in foundation and an exciting innovation plan in front of us. So MAC is on improvement trend in the US and continues its solid performance overall, internationally.
Operator
Our next question comes from Michael Binetti, Credit Suisse.
Michael Binetti -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
Hey guys. Thanks. Great quarter, let me add my congrats. Tracey, would you mind adding any kind of -- is there any kind of numbers you could add around how much you guys adjusted guidance related to the tariffs and the more conservative assumption around China and travel global?
Tracey T. Travis -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Basically, when we gave guidance in August, we included the known announced guidance at that time that we knew were going to be impacting us and so that was tariff related to the EU and some preliminary tariffs in China. Subsequently it has become more certain at least that -- or at least we believe that we may experience higher tariffs in January. So some of the -- embedded in the guidance in the second half from an EPS standpoint is the inclusion of that increase in tariffs.
We do, as we said on the last call, 30% of our product in China comes from the US; the balance comes from our factories around the rest of the globe. So that's generally what the exposure is. We also export products out of China, primarily raw materials and components and so we do get a duty drawback on that.
Michael Binetti -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
Okay, just following up then. I think, some of competitors has mentioned seeing the category -- beauty category accelerating globally and then there has been some comments on strengthening trends behind premiumization. As I look through your guidance, I know you guys always try to make sure you're on the conservative side of where you see the category headed, but it seems like those two dynamics in particular with the global growth accelerating and then premiumization would -- could potentially be an outsized benefit for you given your exposure. Can you speak to anything you're seeing related to -- I guess, you kept your outlook for the category the same but I didn't really hear any commentary on premiumization, how you -- how you see those two trends?
Fabrizio Freda -- President and Chief Executive Officer
So, I'll take this one. And premiumization; absolutely we see that. As you see in our -- but again, your question is about guidance. So the guidance, I'll comment to the guide in a second. But in terms of the results we see today, we see the market of beauty remaining very strong. Our estimate is 5% to 6% for the year which assume, in this 5% to 6%, a little slowdown in the second semester. But the carrying growth is very strong and we do see premiumization, meaning prestige is growing much faster than mass in all the markets that we have data about.
And most importantly, we see consumer continue to trading up and going toward luxury skin care, basically toward quality products and quality experiences. And we see the overall luxury experience, which include service and customization to be more and more preferred by consumer. And we believe this is a long-term trend and the fact that we are a company completely focused on prestige, we believe is a strong competitive advantage for the long term because on all our brand, we are delivering the premiumization benefits that a consumer is looking for.
Your second part of the question was more specifically in the guidance. No, on the contrary, in the guidance, as you have seen, we do not assume the market to accelerate, the premiumization to accelerate in the second semester. Actually, we assume a moderation of this phenomenon for the next short-term for the January-June period, not necessarily for the long term but that's in the assumption. And again, we explained why we're taking prudently, this assumption, at this point in time.
Operator
Our next question comes from Bonnie Herzog with Wells Fargo.
Bonnie Herzog -- Wells Fargo -- Analyst
Thank you. Good morning.
Fabrizio Freda -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning.
Bonnie Herzog -- Wells Fargo -- Analyst
Good morning. I had a question on your makeup business. Operating income decline as did margins, so you called out stepped up spending behind Too Faced. So, I was hoping you could drill down a little further on this to give us a sense of, I guess, where you're at with this spending and then maybe how much your makeup business would be performing excluding the spending. And then hoping to get a sense of how much longer the spending levels might be or stay elevated behind Too Faced. And then finally, more importantly, what kind of lift you're seeing right now if any or really what your expectations are? Thanks.
Tracey T. Travis -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Yes. So regarding makeup, we did have, we called out as well some declines in our Smashbox business, but the Too Faced investment -- the Too Faced had quite a few large launches this quarter. They launched their Born This Way Foundation with extended shades, Born This Way Concealer, their Tutti Frutti line as well launched this quarter.
So they had -- quarter to quarter, it's very difficult to look at our results from a spending standpoint because we are so launch and innovation driven. And if it's a bigger launch one quarter than the next, you'll see perhaps outsized spending and depending on when that spending happens in the quarter. So I would expect that our makeup operating margins will improve throughout the balance of the year and you'll see more normalization there.
Bonnie Herzog -- Wells Fargo -- Analyst
Thank you.
Operator
Our next question is from Robert Ottenstein, Evercore ISI.
Robert Ottenstein -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst
Great, thank you very much and terrific quarter. You're obviously doing a really nice job on some of the larger, well-established brands and I know this is the tricky question; it's very hard to dissect. But I was just wondering if you could give us a sense of the contribution of innovation to those brands and e-commerce and if it's possible, obviously, they're connected, but I just wondered if it's possible to kind of tease out the impact of both of those factors? Thank you.
Fabrizio Freda -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yes. So first of all, on all these brands, and frankly on every brand, the impact of e-commerce is very positive. As we explain, we have brand sites, retail.com and other old platforms like Tmall. We are growing in each one of these three segments very strongly, double-digits and particularly on platform at very strong double digit; and also in retail.com, a very strong double digit.
And we expect this strong trend to continue because also we are creating great experiences online in all these platforms, and the consumer is more and more interested. We are very strong and we have been investing for years in this area. So we consider our e-commerce business as strengths and something we can continue to leverage and be at the forefront of the industry with it.
In terms of the contribution of innovation, as I touched in my prepared remarks, we are really taking innovation to the next level. Our innovation today is much more focused on the right opportunities, on the right consumer targets, on the right benefits. Thanks to a major work we have done in the last couple of years on adding analytics and more sophisticated analytics to our way to determine how to innovate and to focus our marketing plan after we have produced the innovation. And we see the results of this.
Personally, I believe that a big part of our acceleration on the big brands is driven by the quality of our innovation and by the ability to focus innovation on the areas of biggest return. Finally, we are really focused on product quality. That's why in the end we speak about prestige, premiumization is about qualitization, in my opinion. And if the consumers are growing more and more toward high quality product, our product are super quality as we see from their repurchase rates of our consumer.
So innovation needs to be pushed with tryout. But as per the tryout, what really makes an innovation successful is how many consumers come back more and more to buy the product that we measure with our repurchase rates and we have extraordinarily strong repurchase rate, and obviously, profitability is driven by repurchase. Investments are driven by trial and we always keep in mind this difference.
Tracey T. Travis -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
And the only thing I'll add to this and this doesn't directly addresses your question, but just a reminder that for our overall company, our increase from pricing and distribution has been roughly the same in the 2% to 3% for distribution, 2% pricing. Everything else is innovation and comp door sales. So the big acceleration that we've seen which certainly includes the performance in China and travel retail, but also online, has been in -- really in that category which is very, very strong and very, very healthy for us.
Robert Ottenstein -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst
So, it sounds like you've got a very nice -- for lack of a better word, formula working that has had -- that's gaining traction and it seems to be gaining some traction in Clinique. Would that be fair and do you see and how would you look at the mix between the innovation and the e-commerce in terms of getting Clinique even to a higher sales trajectory?
Fabrizio Freda -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yes, thank you for this question. Actually yes, we do expect Clinique to get a lot of acceleration, definitely from online, that's already happening and will continue to happen more, but as I mentioned, particularly from innovation. I believe Clinique is one of the best innovation programs in this moment in front of us. And I said there will be a new launch of Clinique, which is very important in December, which is very exciting in the area of skin care and there is more innovation to come, plus the ingredient story of Clinique is being taken to the next level and this also is having an initial encouraging impact on consumers.
So, we are in a situation where three of our biggest brands are already growing double digits in which MAC is gradually improving its soft point, which has been US and UK and in a situation where Clinique, we believe has the potential for the total fiscal year to go back to growth as well. And so we -- our ambition is to finish this fiscal year with all our top four brands on a growth trajectory.
Operator
Our next question comes from Wendy Nicholson, Citi.
Wendy Nicholson -- Citi -- Analyst
Hi, could you talk about the trends in the specialty-multi business. In the US, I think, you know for the last few quarters we've heard you talk about strong double digit growth and it has clearly slowed a little bit in this quarter. Is that just a function of Smashbox weakness and can you update us on kind of where you are -- I know you don't want to tell us exactly how many Ulta doors MAC is in, but kind of where you are maybe inning-wise, are you in a third inning of distribution expansion for MAC into Ulta doors or just -- you know how much more runway is there for new door expansion in specialty-multi? Thanks.
Fabrizio Freda -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yes, you're welcome. And -- so we are doing well in specialty-multi. We continue to grow and this has continued to be one of our key drivers and we are at the point already, we communicated that last quarter where the benefit of specialty-multi starts to be substantial. So having a significant impact on our growth in the quarter, that's very positive.
Now there has been some slowdown on Smashbox for sure as you mentioned and that's obviously a slowdown of the results of growth, but the other brands really in specialty-multi did very, very well and there is no other sign of slowdown. Actually I will say, most of them are on a clear accelerating trend and there is more potential for distribution.
Yes, on MAC in Ulta, there is more potential for more doors. That is not only about MAC. There is more potential for many of our small and medium-sized brands that have the opportunity to further accelerate distribution in this area. And as you know, we had also some distribution in online and flagship doors of brands like Jo Malone and La Mer which are also performing very well on the high0end consumers that shop in this channel. So overall we are positive and we believe this story can continue to build over time.
Operator
Our next question is from Nik Modi, RBC Capital Markets.
Nik Modi -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst
Yes thank you. Good morning everyone. So I just wanted to stick on the topic of innovation. Fabrizio, maybe you can just talk about some of these new product launches you referenced in terms of the personalized skin care product. And just some context around if you've tested it, what kind of demographics does it appealed to? And then maybe, you can also talk about the Clinique 72 hour moisturizer and kind of how you think about that product relative to how it's maybe tested or your hopes and desires for that franchise? Thank you.
Fabrizio Freda -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yes. So, on the innovation on Clinique which is customized to every consumer, I prefer not to comment more. We are in the process of announcing it to the various retailers around the world, and so, will be soon official and will be launched in December. But basically is the kind of innovation our analytics are giving us, meaning innovation that is not only a great product quality that provide interesting and relevant benefits, but is also proposing to the consumer a new customization idea.
And so there is responding to a new desire, doing it in a way which is unexpected and different, and that's the quality of innovation I'm speaking about. We always had great quality products. We always had the ability to create some interesting benefits, but we are now learning how to do it in a way which is much more customized, more differentiated and anticipate new consumer desires in a world where the consumer is more and more at the center of the attention and leading the process.
In terms of the our other innovation, yes the moisture surge which is the Clinique 72 hours benefit product you've mentioned is doing very, very well. It's one of the key drivers of the success in skin care of Clinique and is the result of an extraordinary technical innovation where the level of moisturization is extremely strong and very appreciated by the consumer, included into a formula with a very special texture that we know has high level of appreciation by the consumer around the world.
So it's strong, it's doing well and we believe it has potential to do even better in the future. We'll continue to drive it. Another example is the launch of jelly, which I mentioned, which is basically taking the core franchise of moisturization of Clinique and giving it a different form and this jelly form, by the way, our analytics showed us, that was absolutely preferred by a certain group of consumer, particularly young consumers.
And so with the goal of rejuvenating or making younger, that historical franchise of Clinique. We have chosen a form, a texture and a model of benefit that we knew was preferred by this group of consumer; and in fact the results are coming. So it's about applying our historical innovation strengths to better analytical understanding of the opportunity and thanks to these, creating much high rate of returns of our innovation scheme.
Operator
Our next question is from Linda Bolton Weiser, D. A. Davidson.
Linda Bolton Weiser -- D. A. Davidson -- Analyst
Thank you. So when we talk to investors about your strong trends and growth and innovation and everything you've been talking about, one of the push backs we get is that we are getting potentially close to the end of the cycle. And some investors actually think we will get a recession in the next 18 to 24 months.
So can you talk about -- in the past, you had invested quite heavily through the cycle, and especially in a downturn, you continued to invest behind your brands. Can you talk about, is there anything different in the structure of your business or the mix of your business, this cycle that would potentially mute the decline in your earnings that we saw in past downturns? Thanks.
Tracey T. Travis -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Yes. So all I'll start. One of the big differences, quite honestly, is Leading Beauty Forward and so the efforts that we have taken to take more fixed cost out of the business to structure ourselves differently, to invest behind faster growing areas, we actually have more flexibility in our cost base which you hear us talk about quite often.
And in terms of investing behind, when markets are strong and when innovation is strong, but also pulling back when there is a downturn, or to your point, if a recession were to occur. So I think structurally the company is much, much stronger today than it was a few years ago because of all of the work that we've done in programs like Leading Beauty Forward to really reorganize our expense base and invest behind areas that really drive the growth of the business.
Fabrizio Freda -- President and Chief Executive Officer
And, so to the point of Tracey of the -- basically we have higher variable cost and lower fixed cost and we are more flexible and we have great cash. And so the ability to go through recessions with cash assuming this had to happen. But I want also to touch on the part on the consumer. To be clear, we have a portfolio of brands that really go from the entry price point or prestige to the luxury. And so, we have seen during recession, our abilities also to push more the brands which are at the entry price point and to leverage them and today we are much more capable of doing that and we have a much richer portfolio across the several price points.
The other thing which has changed is -- please, let's not forget that Prestige Cosmetics are affordable luxury. And there is the famous thing that Leonard Lauder said many years ago about the lipstick index which is when there is a recession, women buy more lipsticks, not yes -- not less for the simple thing, that is an affordable luxury in a moment where maybe other luxuries is not the right priority for families or for people. And so, we believe that we can leverage much better than in the past, the concept of the lipstick index.
Operator
Our next question comes from Mark Astrachan, Stifel.
Mark S. Astrachan -- Stifel Nicolaus -- Analyst
Thanks and good morning everybody. One housekeeping question, one follow up on the Clinique line. One just -- Tracey, is there any benefit anticipated in the second quarter guidance from selling ahead of the tariffs? And then just on Clinique broadly, I guess maybe to put the question in a different way, why has the brand not resonated with consumers in recent years and I guess the other question is, the innovation sounds pretty exciting, but from a brand standpoint, how much of it is the brand itself where there's a lot more competition for a dermatologically correct skin care makeup brand today versus maybe 10 or 15 years ago and then, how do you think about spend or innovation around kind of modernizing it versus just running the business kind of as it is with lesser growth than you've seen in recent years versus history.
Tracey T. Travis -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
So, let me start on the tariff question. We are seeing, obviously, incredibly strong growth in China. So we have not been building up -- related to the tariffs, we've really been flowing inventory as we -- as we have it to support the slow or the very fast sales trends. So, we don't have a big inventory buildup in China where that would cause the moderation or the slowdown that we're speaking about in the second half.
As it relates to Clinique and I'll let Fabrizio add on to this as well. One of the things that we mentioned in the last call that I would just remind you of is Clinique has been one of the brands that's been disproportionately affected by some of the retailer dislocation that's happened, particularly in North America, in Canada, and in the US because they were so strong in those businesses.
So -- and the same in the UK as well. We're seeing that impact with Clinique. So they have been disproportionately affected by that. The innovation in recent years has been quite strong and certainly there's been a lot more competition in this space. I will say great brands attract great competition and certainly our brand portfolio has done that.
So, on the innovation, as Fabrizio mentioned that Clinique is coming out with, is informed by insights, the competitive environment, what consumers are looking for today, and being done in Clinique way. And so, we are very encouraged by early signs that we've seen on some of the product launched starting with Moisture Surge and certainly the jelly that Fabrizio spoke about and the upcoming innovation that will begin to be phased out in December on the new product line, which is quite exciting.
Fabrizio Freda -- President and Chief Executive Officer
And, just want to add that the Clinique team which is probably listening to the call will be very happy about your question because they could not agree more that they are working very hard on the modernization of the brand, they've modernized the Allergy-Tested, Fragrance Free position of the brand with new Purity Statement. They're modernizing their stores. They're modernizing their packaging, and we spoke already about the innovation.
There's been a lot of progress on Clinique, and we -- frankly, you would see already more of this progress into the number, if was not for the fact that -- for example, Bon-Ton closure is the large majority impact in Clinique. The House of Fraser softness in the UK is for the large majority impact in Clinique. So, Clinique is being the most impacted, not necessarily by the consumer not liking the brand, but really from the dislocation of the distribution reality around the world, and the work they are doing on modernization of the brand starts working well and we believe will give soon, better and better results.
Operator
Our next question is from Erinn Murphy, Piper Jaffray.
Erinn Murphy -- Piper Jaffray Companies -- Analyst
Great, thanks, good morning, and let me add my congratulations. Maybe just a segue from a lot of the comments on Clinique, but when you take a step back and just think about the natural beauty trend, how much of your portfolio today really lends itself to this macro trend? And then going forward, how are you weighing the opportunity to invest behind this trend in your existing portfolio today versus looking at M&A.
Fabrizio Freda -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yes. In our portfolio, first of all, the purity concept is actually the Clinique concept. As I said today, it's called in many different ways. It's called clean, natural et cetera, but -- so the brand that is now stepping up to leverage this trend in a unique Clinique way is actually Clinique.
The other brands are obviously Origins which is, as I said in my prepared remarks, exactly in the middle of that and in fact is having exciting results -- and exciting results because it's leveraging this trend and because it's doing great innovation, exactly on that trend in light of very recent launch of the Origins lipstick line in the US, which is a super exciting flower-based line that leverage even in lipstick, the natural trends that personally I believe will be very, very interesting for the consumer worldwide.
And then we have Aveda. Aveda is in the middle of this since always in favor. Not only Aveda adds to the natural element to be leveraged, the sustainability element as well. That is a very strong preferred millennials point of view today. So, Clinique, Origin, Aveda are the obvious question that we are using these brands to further leverage these trends. And on your question on M&A, we always look at M&A possibilities around the world and if there will be opportunities in these areas, obviously we will consider them.
Operator
That concludes today's question-and-answer session. If you were unable to join for the entire call, a playback will be available at 1:00 PM Eastern Time today through November 14th. To hear a recording of the call, please dial (855) 859-2056, passcode number 4946739. That concludes today's Estee Lauder conference call. I would like to thank you all for your participation, and wish you all a good day.
Duration: 65 minutes
Call participants:
Rainey Mancini -- Senior Vice President, Investor Relations
Fabrizio Freda -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Tracey T. Travis -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Dara Mohsenian -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Lauren Lieberman -- Barclays -- Analyst
Michael Binetti -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
Bonnie Herzog -- Wells Fargo -- Analyst
Robert Ottenstein -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst
Wendy Nicholson -- Citi -- Analyst
Nik Modi -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst
Linda Bolton Weiser -- D. A. Davidson -- Analyst
Mark S. Astrachan -- Stifel Nicolaus -- Analyst
Erinn Murphy -- Piper Jaffray Companies -- Analyst
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