07.01.22
Atlanta, GA
Sales: $712 million (est.) for home fragrance
Key Personnel: Ravi Saligram, CEO; Chris Peterson, president and CFO
Major Products: Home fragrance products sold under the WoodWick, Chesapeake Bay Candle and Yankee Candle brand names.
New Products: Yankee Candle—Love is Love limited edition, Sakura Blossom Festival Collection, Studio Collection, Well Living Collection. WoodWick—Radiance Diffuser
Comments: Newell Brands sells a very wide range of products, from coffee makers to camping gear to candles. The latter includes the Yankee Candle, Chesapeake Bay Candle and WoodWick brands. That trio is accounted for in the company’s Home Solutions unit. Sales in that category rose 12% in 2021, which the company attributed to home fragrance and food. It makes sense, of course, as during the pandemic consumers were stuck at home and they spent time baking and lighting candles to create a better mood inside their homes…and inside themselves. Overall, the company’s sales were $2.8 billion in 2021.
According to Newell, the increase in home fragrance sales was primarily due to increases in the retail channel in the US and Europe, as well as Yankee Candle retail stores, partially offset by supply chain shortages, logistical constraints and permanent Yankee Candle retail store closures in 2020. The increase in net sales in the home fragrance business also reflected the “lapping of the prior-year impact of temporary retail store closures and supply chain disruptions resulting from temporary closure of its key manufacturing facility in Massachusetts”—issues stemming from the pandemic.
Operating income for 2021 increased to $313 million as compared to operating loss of $2 million in 2020, some of that loss is tied to the shuttering of the manufacturing facility in South Deerfield, MA, gross productivity and pricing. The increase in operating income also reflected savings from Yankee Candle retail store closures and the exiting of its fundraising business in the prior year.
The majority of the company’s manufacturing and distribution facilities reopened during the second and third quarter of 2020 and have since been operating at or near capacity with inventory levels replenished. That said, Newell noted that it does continue to face significant product, supply and labor shortages, capacity constraints and logistical challenges across its businesses, including port congestion, constrained shipping container availability and delays in carrier pickup, which have negatively impacted the company's ability to satisfy demand for its products, creating order backlog in a number of categories.
In addition, the company continues to face significantly higher than expected inflation for commodities, primarily resin, sourced finished goods, transportation and labor, which had a negative high-single-digit-percentage impact to costs of products sold for 2021. Newell said these disruptions are expected to persist, at least in the near-term.
To help mitigate the negative impact of inflation to the operating performance of its businesses, the company secured selective pricing increases, accelerated productivity initiatives and deployed overhead cost containment efforts.
Many of these issues will be top of mind for Chris Peterson. In May, he was elevated from the role of chief financial officer and president, business operations, to president and chief financial officer of Newell Brands. Peterson will continue to lead all aspects of the company’s financial operations and maintain oversight of supply chain, procurement, IT, real estate and global business services and report to the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Ravi Saligram.
Sales: $712 million (est.) for home fragrance
Key Personnel: Ravi Saligram, CEO; Chris Peterson, president and CFO
Major Products: Home fragrance products sold under the WoodWick, Chesapeake Bay Candle and Yankee Candle brand names.
New Products: Yankee Candle—Love is Love limited edition, Sakura Blossom Festival Collection, Studio Collection, Well Living Collection. WoodWick—Radiance Diffuser
Comments: Newell Brands sells a very wide range of products, from coffee makers to camping gear to candles. The latter includes the Yankee Candle, Chesapeake Bay Candle and WoodWick brands. That trio is accounted for in the company’s Home Solutions unit. Sales in that category rose 12% in 2021, which the company attributed to home fragrance and food. It makes sense, of course, as during the pandemic consumers were stuck at home and they spent time baking and lighting candles to create a better mood inside their homes…and inside themselves. Overall, the company’s sales were $2.8 billion in 2021.
According to Newell, the increase in home fragrance sales was primarily due to increases in the retail channel in the US and Europe, as well as Yankee Candle retail stores, partially offset by supply chain shortages, logistical constraints and permanent Yankee Candle retail store closures in 2020. The increase in net sales in the home fragrance business also reflected the “lapping of the prior-year impact of temporary retail store closures and supply chain disruptions resulting from temporary closure of its key manufacturing facility in Massachusetts”—issues stemming from the pandemic.
Operating income for 2021 increased to $313 million as compared to operating loss of $2 million in 2020, some of that loss is tied to the shuttering of the manufacturing facility in South Deerfield, MA, gross productivity and pricing. The increase in operating income also reflected savings from Yankee Candle retail store closures and the exiting of its fundraising business in the prior year.
The majority of the company’s manufacturing and distribution facilities reopened during the second and third quarter of 2020 and have since been operating at or near capacity with inventory levels replenished. That said, Newell noted that it does continue to face significant product, supply and labor shortages, capacity constraints and logistical challenges across its businesses, including port congestion, constrained shipping container availability and delays in carrier pickup, which have negatively impacted the company's ability to satisfy demand for its products, creating order backlog in a number of categories.
In addition, the company continues to face significantly higher than expected inflation for commodities, primarily resin, sourced finished goods, transportation and labor, which had a negative high-single-digit-percentage impact to costs of products sold for 2021. Newell said these disruptions are expected to persist, at least in the near-term.
To help mitigate the negative impact of inflation to the operating performance of its businesses, the company secured selective pricing increases, accelerated productivity initiatives and deployed overhead cost containment efforts.
Many of these issues will be top of mind for Chris Peterson. In May, he was elevated from the role of chief financial officer and president, business operations, to president and chief financial officer of Newell Brands. Peterson will continue to lead all aspects of the company’s financial operations and maintain oversight of supply chain, procurement, IT, real estate and global business services and report to the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Ravi Saligram.