- Bath & Body Works reported a strong quarter after a difficult year.
- New CEO Daniel Heaf, who took the reins 10 days ago, plans to expand the retailer's international presence.
- Stock is down 40% since May 2024, and the company was removed from the S&P 500.
Bath & Body Works' new CEO is only 10 days into the job, but is already planning a major strategy shakeup.
The home fragrance retailer reported a strong start to 2025, with net sales up 2.9% to $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2025. Earnings per diluted share jumped 29% to $0.49, surpassing the firm's own projections.
A new Disney collaboration leading to the launch of six Disney Princesses fragrances helped to boost earnings from the most recent period, Bath & Body Works said.
In its statement, the company also introduced its new CEO, Daniel Heaf, who was previously Nike's chief strategy and transformation officer and senior vice president at different departments in Burberry.
Speaking about his plans for the Columbus-headquartered retailer just 10 days into the job, Heaf said the firm would be listening to customers to gather insights, using those insights to create products, sharing brand and product stories, and bringing all of that together in an integrated global marketplace.
"Today, international represents about 5% of our business, but from my experience at both Nike and Burberry, I know that international growth is incremental," he told investors in the earnings call on Thursday. "It can define an era."
"In the coming weeks, I'll be on the ground with our partners and customers internationally to explore how we scale effectively," Heaf said.
Bath & Body Works has suffered a bruising year. Stock is down over 40% since the end of May 2024.
Earlier this year, it forecast annual sales generally below predictions, citing uncertainty about President Donald Trump's tariffs.
Before that, when the company's market capitalization fell to about $6.6 billion in September, it was removed from the S&P 500, which at the time required a market cap of at least $18 billion.
It was instead moved to the S&P SmallCap 600.
"Bath & Body Works is no longer representative of the large-cap market space," the stock market index provider said in a statement.
The beauty chain operates 1,900 stores in the US and Canada, and 524 international franchised locations. 14 new stores internationally were opened during the last quarter. 19 stores were closed, predominantly in the United States.
"Our international expansion plans for 2025 remain on track with at least 30 planned net new store openings," Heaf said in the call.
Eva Boratto, chief financial officer, said Bath & Body Works' guidance for this fiscal year includes the anticipated impact of tariffs and the predicted financial effects of the CEO transition.
The company has maintained its guidance for 2025 of 1% to 3% growth in net sales.
