Spectrum Brands Holdings exceeded fourth-quarter sales expectations, making gains across its business, including home and personal care.
Net income from continuing operations was $12.8 million, or 45 cents per diluted share, versus $53.5 million, or $1.50 per diluted share, in the year-before period. Adjusted for one-time events, diluted earnings per share were 97 cents versus $1.12 in the year-previous period.
An analyst consensus estimate published by Yahoo Finance called for adjusted diluted earnings per share of $1.07 and revenue of $747.5 million.
Net sales were $773.7 million versus $740.7 million in the year-earlier quarter, the company reported. Operating income was $21.9 million versus $16.2 million in the year-prior period.
In the Home & Personal Care division, Spectrum noted, net sales were $336.3 million versus $323.1 million in the year-past quarter. Home & Garden net sales were $134.9 million versus $125.2 million in the year-past period. Global Pet Care sales were $302.5 million versus $292.4 million in the year-past quarter.
In the Home & Personal Care division, the increase in organic net sales came from mid-single-digit growth in both the Home and Personal Care categories year over year. Sales volumes in each category were boosted by heightened promotional activity. Spectrum’s home and personal care business includes small appliance brands such as Black & Decker, George Foreman, Russell Hobbs, Remington, PowerXL, Emeril Lagasse and CopperChef.
In the Home & Garden division, the net sales advance year over year arose from higher volumes, with double-digit sales growth in Controls and Repellents and low single-digit sales growth in Household, partially offset by a decline in Cleaning.
In the Global Pet Care division, softness in Aquatic offset higher net sales in the Companion Animal segment.
For the full year, net income from continuing operations was $99.3 million, or $3.26 per diluted share, versus a net loss of $233.7 million, or $5.92 per diluted share, in the year before, Spectrum stated. Adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations were $4.06 versus 64 cents in the year previous.
Net sales were $2.96 billion versus $2.92 billion in the year earlier. Operating income was $170.6 versus an operating loss of $205.6 million in the prior year.
In announcing the financial results, David Maura, Spectrum Brands chairman and CEO, said, “The team and I are proud of our fourth quarter and fiscal 2024 results. We exceeded our annual operating plans on virtually every metric and all of our businesses returned to growth in the second half of the year, in spite of the challenging economic and geopolitical conditions that are impacting consumer demand. We achieved over 20% adjusted EBITDA growth for the year despite an incremental $62 million of investments into our brands, demonstrating the high quality of our earnings growth. We upgraded our capabilities in commercial operations, innovation, marketing and advertising. We restored operational momentum to our businesses with best-in-class operational efficiency and fill rates in the mid-90% across each of our businesses. We have transformed from a difficult working capital position to a company with best-in-class working capital management capabilities, and we have the strongest balance sheet in our peer group, ending fiscal 2024 with net leverage below 0.6 turns.”
In considering the upcoming year, Maura added, “Our focus during fiscal 2025 will be to continue the momentum we built in fiscal 2024 by investing in our brands to drive long-term growth, in innovation to expand core and adjacent categories, and in our operations, to drive further cost improvement, quality and safety. Despite the overall challenging macro-economic environment, we intend to make incremental investments in fiscal 2025 to drive top-line growth.”
