Newell Brands President and CEO Chris Peterson reported that Newell’s Outdoor & Recreation segment, which includes Marmot, Ex Officio, Stearns, Bubba, Coleman, and Contigo, is making progress under new management, but is expected to require a lengthy turnaround.
“While performance has been challenged, and we believe it will take additional time before we fully unlock the potential of iconic brands such as Coleman, we believe the business bottomed earlier in the year, and it is encouraging to see our trends improve sequentially starting in the third quarter,” Peterson told analysts on a quarterly call.
As reported, Newell reported that its Outdoor & Rec segment generated sales of $183 million in the third quarter, down 20.8 percent decline, reflecting a core sales decline of 16.8 percent and the impact of unfavorable foreign exchange and certain business exits.
On a reported basis, the operating loss for the Outdoor & Rec segment was $23 million, a reduction from a year-ago loss of $42 million, which included an impairment charge of $22 million in the prior year period. The normalized operating loss for the segment was $15 million, slightly below an adjusted loss of $16 million in the prior year period.
In brief comments on the segment, Peterson noted that the negative 16.8 percent year-over-year in the third quarter marked slight improvement versus 18.2 percent year-over-year decline in the second quarter.
He highlighted progress at Coleman, which is being repositioned with a broader outdoor focus under the direction of Nicolas Duran, who took over as CEO of the Outdoor & Recreation segment in January. Before joining Newell, Nico served in several leadership roles at Dorel Industries, Reebok International and Adidas Group.
Peterson said, “Some of you may have seen that Coleman launched a new campaign on Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime, marking the first time Coleman has done a TV spot in more than 10 years. The early measurable results are encouraging, with a strong double-digit increase in sales in the days after the ad aired versus year ago. The new campaign focuses on addressing the broader outdoor market instead of the traditional camping subsection, consistent with our strategy reset for the brand.”
Peterson also talked about the Contigo travel mugs and water bottle brand’s debut of a limited-edition water bottle collection designed in partnership with fitness expert Ally Love. He said, “This collaboration comes as the first of many as Contigo is adding Ally to its c-suite as the brand’s first-ever chief hydration officer. In this role, Ally will bring her love for fitness, fashion and hydration to Contigo to create an unbeatable hydration experience. Over the next three years, Ally will serve as Contigo’s head product stylists collaborating closely with the brand to develop trendy, reliable water bottles that encourage healthy hydration habits.”
Asked further about turnaround prospects for the Outdoor & Rec segment in the Q&A section of the analyst call, Peterson elaborated that the segment “is going to take the longest to turn around because that’s the one where we feel good about progress we’ve made. We’ve recapped the team. We’ve reset the strategy to move Coleman, which is the largest brand from a camping focus to more of outdoor focus. We talked about the television spot that we just put on Amazon, which has been good traction. The Contigo partnership with Ally Love, which is off to a great start. And I think the team that we built in Outdoor & Rec is building a very positive innovation pipeline that is going to be coming to market in 2026. And so that is the one that will take the longest.”
In the nine months, sales in the Outdoor & Rec segment reached $642 million, down 23.0 percent on a reported basis and 18.5 percent on a normalized basis. The operating loss in the segment in the nine months on a reported basis was $52 million against a loss of $38 million a year ago. On a normalized basis, the operating loss for the segment was $25 million versus a loss of $5 million the prior year.
