Double-Digit Earnings Gains at Gillette

Several new products, as well as battery sales, boost results.
By TSC Staff ,

A handful of new products lifted

Gillette

(G) - Get Report

to double-digit gains in earnings and revenue in the first quarter.

The Boston company said it earned $263 million, or 25 cents a share, on sales of $1.97 billion in the quarter, up from $223 million, or 21 cents a share, on sales of $1.73 billion last year. Analysts had been forecasting earnings of 24 cents a share in the latest quarter.

Gillette cited strong sales of new products like the Mach3Turbo razor, the CrossAction Power battery toothbrush and the CrossAction Vitalizer manual toothbrush, as well as good sales of Duracell batteries. The company noted that battery sales were goosed by consumers stocking up ahead of the Iraq war, and said demand will probably moderate somewhat as those stocks are worked down.

Gillette said it was "concerned" by some of the promotional activity of its battery competitors, but said it remained committed to defending its market share.

Among business lines, Gillette's razor segment sales rose 16% to $893 million and its profit rose 15% to $331 million; Duracell sales rose 16% to $384 million while profit was $39 million; oral care sales rose 11% to $295 million and profit fell 7% to $49 million; Braun sales rose 15% to $214 million and the unit posted a $6 million operating loss; and personal-care sales rose 4% to $185 million, and the unit broke even.

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