Newell Rubbermaid Reports Solid First Quarter 2013 Results
• Core Sales Growth of 2.5% (adjusted for 2012 SAP-related timing shift)
• Normalized EPS of $0.35, 9.4% ahead of Prior Year Quarter
• Reported Sales Decline of 0.8%; Reported EPS of $0.19
• Announces Plan to Divest Non-Strategic Businesses
Newell Rubbermaid (NWL) today announced solid first quarter 2013 results.
“We’ve had a good start to the year and made further progress driving the Growth Game Plan into action,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Polk. “Underlying financial results on our continuing business were solid, with particularly strong performances from our Commercial Products, Tools and Baby & Parenting operating segments. Core sales grew 2.5 percent when adjusted for last year’s European SAP-related timing shift and normalized EPS grew 9.4 percent to $0.35.”
Polk added, “The Growth Game Plan calls for a sharper set of portfolio choices to prioritize those businesses that have the greatest right to win. In that context, we have taken steps to strengthen our portfolio by initiating a process to sell our Hardware and Teach Platform businesses which together represented 2012 net sales of slightly more than $300 million. These are good businesses run by talented people but they do not fit with our strategy. The divestiture of these businesses will help to create a faster growing, higher margin and more focused portfolio, enabling us to drive accelerated performance.”
First Quarter Executive Summary
(Information presented for both current and prior year periods in this release has been restated to reflect discontinued operations classification for the company’s Hardware and Teach Platform businesses.)
• First quarter 2013 net sales were $1.24 billion, a 0.8 percent decline versus prior year results.
• Core sales, which exclude the impact of changes in foreign currency translation, grew 0.2 percent, or 2.5 percent when adjusted for the 2012 timing shift of approximately $28 million in sales from the second quarter to the first quarter related to the company’s European SAP conversion in 2012.
• Normalized operating margin declined 40 basis points, compared with prior year results that included an 80 basis point favorable impact from the 2012 European SAP-related timing shift. Reported operating margin declined 200 basis points, due largely to increased restructuring costs and the mix impact of the European SAP-related timing shift.
• Normalized diluted earnings per share were $0.35, a year-over-year increase of 9.4 percent due to a more favorable tax rate, lower interest expense and improved operating performance, partially offset by a comparison with prior year results that included a $0.03 benefit from the European SAP-related sales timing shift.
• Reported diluted earnings per share were $0.19 compared with $0.27 in the year-ago period, due largely to increased restructuring costs, a loss from discontinued operations, and a loss relating to the currency devaluation in Venezuela.
• Operating cash flow was a use of $123.1 million, as compared with a use of $47.4 million in the prior year, largely due to an incremental voluntary $75 million pension contribution.
• The company returned $78.3 million to shareholders through a dividend payout of $44.5 million and the repurchase of 1.4 million shares at a cost of $33.8 million.
• The company’s Hardware and Teach Platform businesses (comprising the Bulldog®, Shurline®, Ashland® and Amerock® brands, the drapery hardware business, and Mimio®) have been classified as discontinued operations.
• The company’s 2013 guidance is core sales growth in a range from 2 to 4 percent, normalized operating margin improvement of up to 20 basis points, normalized earnings per share of $1.78 to $1.84 and operating cash flow of $575 to $625 million.
