01.17.14
WD-40 Company reported net sales for the first quarter ended Nov. 30, 2013 of $95.5 million, a slight increase from the first quarter last fiscal year and a record quarter for the company. Net income for the first quarter rose 5% to $11.5 million.
First quarter multi-purpose maintenance products sales, which include the WD-40 and 3-IN-ONE brands, rose 3% to $83.9 million. The multi-purpose maintenance products are considered a primary focus for the company. However, home care and cleaning products sales, which include all other brands, fell 15% to $11.6 million. The US home care and cleaning products are considered harvest brands providing healthy profit returns to the company and are becoming a smaller part of the business as the multi-purpose maintenance products sales grow.
Americas segment sales in the first quarter slipped 3% to $44.0 million. The Europe, Middle East, Africa and India (EMEA) segment sales in the first quarter climbed 3% to $36.5 million. Asia-Pacific segment sales increased 4% to $15.0 million.
"We are pleased with our results in the quarter coming off of a great fiscal year 2013. While we only had a small increase in sales across the globe due to the timing of promotional activities, the first quarter was the largest sales quarter in our history," said Garry Ridge, WD-40 company president and chief executive officer. "We remain confident that the base business we have established along with the continued focus on our revised strategic initiatives will produce solid results for the year."
Net sales by segment as a percent of total net sales were 46% from the Americas, 38% from EMEA and 16% from Asia-Pacific.
"Sales in the Americas decreased slightly due to declines in the home care and cleaning products which offset modest growth in multi-purpose maintenance product sales," Ridge said. "In Asia-Pacific and EMEA, we had steady growth with some slight fluctuations caused by promotional timing as well as a small impact from foreign currency exchange rates in some of our Asian markets. During the first quarter, we also began distribution of the WD-40 brand in Albania, bringing the brand's global reach to 188 countries."
The WD-40 Specialist product line was launched in fiscal year 2012 and during the first quarter of fiscal 2014 distribution was increased by an additional eight countries, including Australia and Turkey.
WD-40 Company expects fiscal year 2014 net sales of $383 million to $398 million.