08.03.11
Clorox said early Wednesday its quarterly profit actually fell 1.2% to $169 million, but the figure still topped analysts' consensus call by more than $10 million. On a per share basis, earnings grew 5% to $1.26 per share, from $1.20 per share, as Clorox repurchased 2.7 million shares of the company's common stock for $183 million in the recent quarter.
Clorox reported net earnings from continuing operations of $545 million versus $526 million the previous year.
Looking ahead to fiscal 2012, the company expects 1-3% sales growth, flat gross margins and earnings per share in the range of $4.00 to 4.10.
Fourth-quarter revenue increased 3.5% to a better-than-expected $1.48 billion, from $1.43 billion. Sales grew in all four of Clorox's business segments. Clorox shares were unchanged in premarket trading Wednesday after the stock closed lower in Tuesday's session.
Clorox said its portfolio of brands, which includes Clorox, Glad, Brita, Armor All, Burt's Bees, STP and Kingsford, achieved its highest ever market share of 27.9%.
Volume in the fourth quarter grew 2%, led by gains in the company's cleaning and household segments.
More specifically, within the cleaning segment, fourth quarter volume rose 4% on a 4% increase in sales.
For the year, sales were flat at $5.2 billion, with the benefit of price increases offset by unfavorable product mix and the impact of incremental customer pick-up allowances. Volume was flat, as gains from Burt's Bees natural personal care products, the Away From Home institutional business and Home Care were offset by lower shipments of Glad food storage products and laundry additives due to category softness.
Volume in the fourth quarter grew 2%, led by gains in the company's cleaning and household segments.
More specifically, within the cleaning segment, fourth quarter volume rose 4% on a 4% increase in sales.
For the year, sales were flat at $5.2 billion, with the benefit of price increases offset by unfavorable product mix and the impact of incremental customer pick-up allowances. Volume was flat, as gains from Burt's Bees natural personal care products, the Away From Home institutional business and Home Care were offset by lower shipments of Glad food storage products and laundry additives due to category softness.
Clorox reported net earnings from continuing operations of $545 million versus $526 million the previous year.
Looking ahead to fiscal 2012, the company expects 1-3% sales growth, flat gross margins and earnings per share in the range of $4.00 to 4.10.
For fiscal year 2012, Clorox now anticipates year-over-year commodity cost increases in the range of $140 million to $150 million, down from the company's previous outlook of $160 million to $170 million. The company anticipates that about $85 million to $90 million of these increases will occur in the first half of the fiscal year. Clorox continues to anticipate $40 million to $50 million of inflationary pressures in manufacturing and logistics expenses for the fiscal year. The company anticipates it will substantially mitigate the margin impact for the full year with strong cost savings in the range of $90 million to $100 million, occurring about evenly across quarters. Clorox anticipates that broad price increases planned for fiscal 2012 will be partially offset by volume losses in the first half of the fiscal year, with more pricing benefit in the second half. Based on the expected timing of cost increases, cost savings and the benefit of price increases, the company anticipates a decline in the range of 150 basis points to 175 basis points in first quarter gross margin.