ATLANTA, U.S. – Newell Brands has released its first quarter 2020 financial results. Net sales were $1.9 billion, a decline of 7.6 percent compared with the prior year period. Core sales declined 5.1 percent compared with the prior year period. Three of eight business units delivered core sales growth.
Reported operating margin was negative 74.7 percent compared with positive 0.6 percent in the prior year period, reflecting a $1.5 billion noncash impairment charge recorded in the current quarter. Normalized operating margin was 6.0 percent, compared with 6.1 percent in the prior year period.
Reported diluted loss per share for the total company was $3.02 compared with a loss of $0.36 per share in the prior year period.
Normalized diluted earnings per share for the total company were $0.09 compared with $0.12 in the prior year period, with an increase in normalized earnings from continuing operations more than offset by the foregone contribution from divested businesses.
Operating cash flow was $23 million, compared with an operating cash outflow of $200 million in the prior year period, reflecting strong working capital progress.
The company withdrew previously announced full year 2020 guidance due to the highly dynamic outlook for the global economy and ongoing supply chain and demand disruptions.
The turnaround plan that we have been executing against puts Newell Brands on a stronger footing to confront the significant and unprecedented challenges inherent in the global COVID-19 pandemic,” said Ravi Saligram, Newell Brands President and CEO.
“We have established three key priorities in this rapidly changing operating and economic environment. First and foremost is the safety and well-being of our employees. Second, we are taking decisive actions to sustain the company’s financial vitality with a laser focus on maximizing cash flow and ensuring strong liquidity. And finally, we are working diligently to keep our manufacturing facilities and distribution centers operating where possible, so that we can continue to provide critical products to our consumers and customers. Although we delivered performance in line with or ahead of expectations in Q1, we expect Q2 to be a very challenging quarter. We are encouraged, however, by the pockets of strength we are seeing in the Food and Commercial businesses as well as recent point of sale trends in the Appliances & Cookware business in the U.S. We remain confident in our liquidity position and our ability to successfully navigate the enterprise during these difficult times.”
Chris Peterson, Chief Financial Officer and President, Business Operations, said, “Despite the disruption from COVID-19, the company’s first quarter results were in line with or ahead of guidance across all key metrics, as better than expected performance during the first two months offset a significant slowdown in March. Disciplined focus on productivity, overhead cost savings and complexity reduction drove a better than expected operating margin. We generated positive operating cash flow in the seasonally slow first quarter, a $223 million improvement versus year ago results, attributable to the strong progress on working capital initiatives implemented as part of our turnaround plan.”
