Commenting on the quarter, Alberto-Culver President and Chief Executive Officer Howard Bernick said, "We are very pleased with our 2006 fiscal year- to-date results. In the consumer business, our second quarter sales growth was greatly enhanced by the Nexxus retail launch and continued strong performance from our TRESemme hair care range again this quarter. Corporate second quarter advertising increased by almost 40 percent versus the prior year, much of this related to the Nexxus launch."
Mr. Bernick continued, "Our Sally store business recorded good sales growth and double-digit earnings growth in the quarter, an impressive accomplishment in a very competitive retail environment. Beauty Systems Group (BSG) also recorded a good second quarter. It was in the 2005 second quarter that BSG was faced with certain challenges related to distribution changes in the United States, in addition to acquisition and integration expenses associated with the West Coast Beauty Supply and CosmoProf acquisitions in December, 2003 and December, 2004, respectively. During the last twelve months, BSG has made progress in addressing many challenges as evidenced by its second quarter results. BSG sales increased and second quarter operating margins rose significantly to 7.0 percent versus 4.9 percent last year. We continue to work towards improving our BSG businesses by way of building stronger relationships with our vendors, opening new stores, strengthening our sales forces and controlling product diversion while continuing to focus on servicing hundreds of thousands of beauty salons and more than a million professional stylists."
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