Jarden Corp., the parent company of Coleman, K2, Marmot, Volkl and other outdoor brands, said it expects that revenue for the first quarter of 2009 will be approximately $1.14 billion as compared to $1.22 billion in the prior year. Approximately two-thirds of this difference was foreign exchange related. The first quarter segment earnings are expected to be in the range of $90 to $92 million, or 21 to 23 cents a share. That compares with earnings of 22 cents a year ago. The guidance is ahead of Wall Street's consensus estimate of 12 cents a share.
Martin E. Franklin, chairman and chief executive officer of Jarden Corporation, stated, “Our belief that market leading brands in defensible niche markets fare better than their competitors in recessionary environments was borne out by Jarden's first quarter performance. Our strong sales and segment earnings performance was on the back of organic growth within our consumer solutions business, with our other segments performing in line with expectations. While our first quarter results will not be final until we announce earnings later this month, based on the positive start to the year we believe that we will meet or exceed the analysts' consensus estimates for as adjusted EPS for 2009. We look forward to commenting in more detail on our first quarter results during our regular quarterly conference call later this month.”
Jarden also announced that its Board approved earlier this month an early termination date for the Stockholder Rights Plan which was implemented on November 19, 2008. The Board viewed the plan “as a necessary measure in response to the unprecedented market volatility that existed at the time, and as market conditions have shown signs of stability, the company believes that accelerating the termination date for the plan to November 18, 2009 is in the best interest of our stockholders.
Jarden's Outdoor Solutions brands include: Abu Garcia, Berkley, Campingaz and Coleman, Fenwick, Gulp!, JT, K2, Marker, Marmot, Mitchell, Penn, Rawlings, Shakespeare, Stearns, Stren, Trilene, Volkl and Zoot. Its other two divisions are Consumer Solutions: Bionaire, Crock-Pot, FoodSaver, Health o meter, Holmes, Mr. Coffee, Oster, Patton, Rival, Seal-a-Meal, Sunbeam, VillaWare and White Mountain; and Branded Consumables: Ball, Bee, Bicycle, Crawford, Diamond, Dicon, First Alert, Forster, Hoyle, Kerr, Lehigh, Leslie-Locke, Loew Cornell and Pine Mountain.
