Estee Lauder 2010 Annual Report Download - page 8

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 8 of the 2010 Estee Lauder annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 160

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106
  • 107
  • 108
  • 109
  • 110
  • 111
  • 112
  • 113
  • 114
  • 115
  • 116
  • 117
  • 118
  • 119
  • 120
  • 121
  • 122
  • 123
  • 124
  • 125
  • 126
  • 127
  • 128
  • 129
  • 130
  • 131
  • 132
  • 133
  • 134
  • 135
  • 136
  • 137
  • 138
  • 139
  • 140
  • 141
  • 142
  • 143
  • 144
  • 145
  • 146
  • 147
  • 148
  • 149
  • 150
  • 151
  • 152
  • 153
  • 154
  • 155
  • 156
  • 157
  • 158
  • 159
  • 160

Dear Fellow Stockholders:
Our successes in fiscal 2010 are a testament to the strength of The Estée Lauder Companies, the loyalty of
our valued consumers and the dedication of our employees across the globe. Despite one of the worst
economic periods in decades, our performance was strong in so many respects. Many of our financial
metrics surpassed historical measures and we made great progress in evolving our organization to better
meet the changing landscape of the global beauty industry.
We began the year with the successful launch of our four-year strategy and have made excellent headway,
as demonstrated by our financial results. We made great strides in evolving our organization, expanding
our geographic presence, investing in our global capabilities and growing share profitably in many of our
largest, image-building markets. We accelerated growth in many emerging markets, particularly China and
Russia, and listened closely to our most discerning consumers. We exercised greater financial discipline, cut
costs and focused our resources on our biggest and brightest opportunities. As a result, we achieved:
•฀ ฀overall฀net฀sales฀growth฀of฀6%
•฀ ฀record฀gross฀margin฀of฀76.5%
•฀ ฀record฀cash฀ow฀from฀operations฀of฀$957฀million
•฀ ฀a฀ reduction฀in฀stock฀keeping฀units฀(SKUs)฀of฀10%,฀which฀helped฀drive฀down฀฀obsolescence฀ by฀
nearly฀25%
This was a tremendous year for launching breakthrough products, services and concepts. To name a few,
Clinique’s Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector and Estée Lauder’s upgraded Advanced Night Repair
experienced extraordinary success around the world. At the same time, we demonstrated outstanding
7
PRESIDENT AND
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
OFFICER’S LETTER