Revlon Looks Pale as Profit Tumbles

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Revlon(REV Quote) is losing its color. The cosmetics maker saw nearly all of its profit evaporate during the second quarter as restructuring charges and unfavorable currency fluctuations took their toll.

But nothing could break the giddiness of a summer stock-market rally, and Revlon shares spiked 9% to $6.16 in afternoon trading.

In the quarter, Revlon earned just $200,000, break-even on a per-share basis, compared with a profit of $19.9 million, or 39 cents, in the year-ago period. This quarter's results included restructuring charges of about 36 cents a share.

Sales slipped 12% to $321.8 million.

In a statement, Revlon chief Alan Ennis said that even though the overall "mass color cosmetics category" continued to grow in the U.S., according to data provided by market researcher ACNielsen, "the rate of growth slowed and certain retailers reduced inventory levels versus the year-ago period."

Revlon said its results in the second-half of the year will benefit from savings of about $15 million, some of which will come from previously announced job cuts.

Revlon competitor Avon Products(AVP Quote) also experienced a big drop in earnings in its second quarter, its bottom line plummeting 65% from a year ago, but the company still managed to beat Wall Street's expectations.

-Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York.