Church & Dwight’s Quarterly Profit Falls

Church & Dwight Inc., maker of Arm & Hammer baking soda, on Monday said its fourth-quarter earnings fell because of inventory charges associated with its purchase of new product lines such as Arrid antiperspirant.

The consumer products maker also said it was aiming for annual earnings growth during the next three years of 12.5 to 15%. For 2002, most earnings growth will occur in the second half of the year. Costs from integrating recent acquisitions will hold down earnings growth in the first half, it said.

For the fourth quarter, earnings fell to $6.1 million, or 15 cents per share, from $10.7 million, or 27 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time charges, earnings per share were unchanged at 30 cents, it said. On that basis, analysts were looking for earnings of 27 cents to 29 cents per share, with a mean estimate of 28 cents, according to research firm Thomson Financial/First Call.

Sales rose to $296.6 million from $196.9 million, helped by the acquisition in September of the consumer products business of Carter-Wallace Inc.