On Newell’s first-quarter analyst call, Ravi Saligram, Newell’s CEO, attributed the steep quarterly sales decline seen at the Outdoor & Recreation segment to “a slower-than-expected start to the season, primarily due to wet and cold weather in the western part of the country.”
As reported, the Outdoor & Recreation segment, home to Marmot, Ex Officio, Stearns, Bubba, Coleman, and Contigo, generated net sales of $270 million in Q1 compared with $388 million in the prior-year period, representing a decline of 30.4 percent year over year.
The decline was attributed to a core sales decline of 27.4 percent, as well as the impact of unfavorable foreign exchange. Reported operating loss in the segment was $1 million, or negative 0.4 percent of sales, compared with operating income of $46 million, or 11.9 percent of sales, in the prior-year period. Normalized operating income was $13 million, or 4.8 percent of sales, compared with $50 million, or 12.9 percent of sales, in the prior-year period.
In the Q&A section of the call, Saligram said the decline was also partly due to challenging comparisons in the year-ago period. In the year-ago first quarter, core sales at the Outdoor & Recreation segment grew 22.9 percent.
He added that it’s too early to know whether overall spring/summer sales will continue to lag.
“It’s too early to declare anything with regard to the season,” said Saligram. “The season for Outdoor & Rec typically gets really going kind of May through July…And so what we’re seeing so far is retailers saying, ‘Hey, because of the slow weather, can you hold up the shipments because we don’t need the inventory quite as fast?’ But it’s too early to declare how the season overall will wind up.”
Photo courtesy Newell Brands/Coleman
