Helen Of Troy Q1 Profit Down On Charges, But Tops Street

(RTTNews) - Consumer products company Helen of Troy Ltd (HELE), Tuesday reported a lower profit for the first quarter, hurt mainly by lower gross margin and asset impairment charges. Nevertheless, excluding charges, adjusted profit for the quarter improved on revenue growth and lower expenses. Both earnings and revenue for the quarter came in ahead of Wall Street expectations.

The El Paso, Texas-based company's first-quarter profit dropped to $14.4 million or $0.45 per share from $23.5 million or $0.74 per share last year.

Earnings for the quarter was negatively impacted by non-cash asset impairment charges of $12.05 million related to certain trademarks in the personal care segment.

Excluding items, net income for the quarter was $26.4 million or $0.82 per share. On average, four analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.71 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

The personal-care and household-products maker said revenues for the quarter grew 1.4 percent to $304.5 million from $300.2 million last year. Analysts estimated revenues of $301.50 million for the quarter.

Gross margin for the first quarter dropped to 39.5 percent from 40.4 percent last year, reflecting increased promotional program costs, the effect of foreign currency exchange rates and product cost increases across all segments.

Selling, general and administrative costs, as a percentage of sales, dropped to 28.7 percent from 30 percent last year.

For the fiscal year 2014, the company now expect earnings of $3.13 to $3.23 per share, including asset impairment charges of $0.37 per share. The company continues to expect adjusted earnings of $3.50 to $3.60 per share and revenues of $1.29 billion to $1.32 billion for the year. Analysts currently estimate earnings of $3.53 per share on revenues of $1.30 billion for the year.

HELE closed Tuesday's regular trade at $42.00, up $0.88 or 2.14%, on the Nasdaq. The stock further gained $1.00 or 2.38% in after-hours trade.