Ulta Suspends Its Long-Planned Expansion Into Canadian Market

(Bloomberg) -- Ulta Beauty Inc. is halting its planned arrival to Canada, saying its business is better served by building out its U.S. operations, including e-commerce, amid the pandemic.

Investment in Canada has been mostly limited to leases for some small stores, the company said. Ulta said it will incur costs of $55 million to $65 million as a result.

Ulta announced plans to enter Canada in May 2019, its first foray outside the U.S. Chief Executive Officer Mary Dillon said at the time that management spent years figuring out which international market to enter, before settling on Canada.

“Canada is an attractive and logical place to start,” Dillon said last year. “We can’t say that we are planning to start small, but are prepared to scale quickly as we learn and see success.”

It never got off the ground. In April, Ulta said it would slow down its expansion plans and delay its Canadian debut into 2021 due to disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic.

Ulta also said it earlier this month repaid the outstanding balance of $800 million of its revolving credit facility.

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