Tupperware Brands Tanks After Missing on Revenue, Slashing Quarterly Dividend

Tupperware Brands Corp. (TUP) - Get Report shares tumbled by 27.4% in Wednesday's trading after the company announced fourth-quarter revenue that fell 14% and said it was cutting its dividend by 60%. 

The company reported adjusted earnings of $1.33 a share on revenue $505.9 million. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting the company to report earnings of $1.33 on revenue of $543 million. 

The company declared a quarterly dividend of 27 cents per share, down from its previous dividend of 68 cents.

"While we achieved our earnings per share expectations in local currency, our sales and segment profit results in the fourth quarter were not what we expected, leading to our desire to accelerate the business transformation to capitalize on our Global Growth Strategy," said CEO Tricia Stitzel. "To enable a more aggressive investment in our growth strategy initiatives and potentially fund share repurchases, we have made the decision to redeploy approximately $80 million in annual cash flow that had previously been paid out in quarterly dividends."

Tupperware was the biggest decliner on the Dow Jones Industrial Average Wednesday. 

The company reported a 12% decline in sales in Europe, including a 5% decline in European emerging markets and a 15% in established European markets. 

Emerging Asian markets were down 16%, led by a 45% decline in India and a 41% decline in Indonesia. 

North American segment sales fell 7% year over year.