Newell Rubbermaid Inc. said Friday its fourth-quarter earnings rose 27 percent as the consumer products company’s restructuring efforts appear to have helped improve revenue, although margins shrank.
The company also forecast 2013 adjusted earnings of $1.78 to $1.84 a share, while analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect $1.82 a share.
The maker of Rubbermaid storage products, Calphalon cookware and other household goods has seen its revenue challenged by deteriorating conditions in Europe and a stronger headwind from foreign exchange rates.
Newell Rubbermaid has about 1,100 employees in Northeast Ohio, including more than 800 at its Mogadore plant and new Brimfield Township distribution center.
The Mogadore plant makes food storage and home organizational products. The new distribution center in Brimfield Township replaces the Wooster distribution facility, which closed at the end of last year.
As part of its strategy to grow earnings, Newell had expanded its ongoing restructuring in October with plans to cut roughly 2,000 jobs. The company is also reorganizing into a development organization focused on managing brands, coming up with new products and marketing, and a delivery organization tasked with managing relationships between retailers and suppliers and executing sales strategies.
Newell Rubbermaid reported a quarterly profit of $101.9 million, or 35 cents a share, up from $80.4 million, or 27 cents, a year earlier. Excluding items such as restructuring costs, adjusted earnings rose to 43 cents a share from 40 cents. Sales increased 1.6 percent to $1.52 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had most recently forecast per-share earnings of 42 cents on revenue of $1.52 billion.
Gross margin fell to 36.5 percent from 37.2 percent.
Sales in the home-solutions segment edged up 0.8 percent to $453.1 million. Sales in the writing segment climbed 2 percent to $344.5 million, and tool sales increased 3.6 percent to $209.5 million.
Sales of commercial products were up 0.9 percent, and the baby-and-parenting business recorded 4.2 percent higher sales.
Shares closed Thursday at $23.48. The stock has risen 27 percent over the past year.