Sales Rise at WD-40

WD-40 Company reported net sales for the second quarter ended Feb. 28, 2014 rose 9% to $94.2 million. Year-to-date net sales increased 4% to $189.7 million.
 
Net income for the second quarter slipped 1% to $10.3 million. Year-to-date net income rose 2% to $21.8 million.
 
Second quarter multi-purpose maintenance products sales, which include the WD-40 and 3-In-One brands increased 11% to $83.8 million, and rose 7% to $167.8 million year-to-date. The multi-purpose maintenance products are considered a primary focus for the company. 
 
Homecare and cleaning products sales, which include all other brands, fell 8% to $10.4 million for the second quarter, and was down 11% to $21.9 million year-to-date. The US homecare 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 second quarter was up 12% to $45.2 million, and increased 4% to $89.3 million year-to-date. The Europe, Middle East, Africa and India (EMEA) segment sales in the second quarter climbed 16% to $38.1 million, and was up 9% to $74.6 million. Asia-Pacific segment sales were down 12% to $10.9 million in the second quarter and fell 8% to $25.8 million year-to-date.

“We are pleased with our solid results for the quarter and remain confident that the hard work of our tribe members implementing our strategic initiatives will continue to drive strong results going forward,” said Garry Ridge, WD-40 company president and chief executive officer.
 
Net sales by segment as a percent of total net sales were as follows: for the Americas, 48% for the second quarter and 47% year-to-date; for EMEA, 40% for the second quarter and 39% year-to-date; and, for Asia-Pacific, 12% for the second quarter and 14% year-to-date.
 
“We had strong sales in the Americas and EMEA during the quarter that more than offset declines in Asia-Pacific,” Ridge said. “The sales declines in Asia-Pacific were due to a larger than normal backlog of orders that we were unable to ship during the quarter, the impacts of foreign currency exchange rates from our Australian operations as well as the softening economy and ongoing variability of the China market.”
 
In summary: “We continue our focus on multi-purpose maintenance products and we doubled the sales of the WD-40 Specialist product line in the second quarter over the previous year fiscal quarter,” Ridge said. “We were also able to achieve nearly double digit growth in global WD-40 multi-use product sales and plan to launch new products under our 3-IN-ONE brand later this fiscal year.”
 
We continue to maintain the homecare and cleaning products, and they continue to generate positive cash flow even with the sales declines we have experienced,” Ridge added.