Jarden Corps Outdoor Solutions segment saw sales rise 3.9% in the first quarter to $614.2 million from $591.3 million a year ago. The sales uptick were driven primarily by increases by Coleman due to increased category space at a major domestic retailer; expanded product offerings; and an increase in demand resulting from overall economic improvement. Also supporting the growth was $23 million in currency improvement and continued strength from Pure Fishing that was offset-by $9 million-of sales lost from disposed businesses.
Operating earnings for the segment soared 50% to $39.9 million from $26.6 million in the year earlier period. The improvement reflected the gross margin impact of higher sales and a $9.4 million decrease in reorganization and acquisition-related integration costs.
Overall, Jarden-which also sells products including cookware, playing cards and fire alarms-swung to a first-quarter loss of $59 million, or 66 cents a share, compared with net income of $8.9 million, or 12 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding a one-time charge related to inflation in Venezuela, the company earned 25 cents a share in the latest quarter. Sales grew 4% to $1.19 billion.
On a conference call with analysts, Jarden Chairman and CEO Martin Franklin said Jarden now expects 2010 growth to trend between 3% and 5% for the year. He expects Jarden to benefit from shelf space gained at retail across the company achieved over the past 12 months, and the benefits of new product introductions reflected by our strong POS performance.
Among the new product innovations he cited was Rawlings EXOGRID baseball, Coleman’s Paul Jr. Designs RoadTrip grill as well as new product launches from Pure Fishing such as the Shakespeare Amphibian Youth Combo for kids. He also noted that Sam Solomon, Coleman’s CEO, was selected among a group of industry experts to the White House for a conference on America’s Great Outdoors. “It is through innovation and activities such as these that we believe we will continue to drive long-term organic sales growth within Jarden,” said Franklin.
The Jarden Outdoor units brand portfolio includes Abu Garcia, Coleman, Atlas, Ride, Tubbs, K2, Marker, Marmot, Penn, Rawlings, deBeer, Worth, Shakespeare, Pflueger, Stearns, Volkl, Ex Officio, Planet Earth and Zoot, among others.
