Newell Rubbermaid to Reaffirm Fiscal Year 2013 Outlook at CAGNY Conference

Newell Rubbermaid to Reaffirm Fiscal Year 2013 Outlook at CAGNY Conference

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Newell Rubbermaid (NYS: NWL) announced it will reaffirm its fiscal year 2013 outlook, as provided in its fourth quarter 2012 earnings press release dated February 1, 2013, during its presentation today at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) conference.

The company's guidance and key assumptions for the full year 2013 are as follows:

• Core sales increase of 2 to 4 percent.

  • Net sales are expected to grow 1 to 3 percent

  • Currency rates are expected to decrease sales by about 100 basis points

• Normalized operating margin improvement of up to 20 basis points

• Normalized EPS growth of 5 to 8 percent, or $1.78 to $1.84

  • The company's 2013 normalized EPS expectation excludes between $90 and $110 million of restructuring and restructuring-related costs associated with Project Renewal. (A reconciliation to normalized results is included below.)

  • The company is on track to realize cumulative annualized cost savings of approximately $270 to $325 million by the second quarter of 2015 related to Project Renewal, with cumulative annualized savings of $90 to $100 million expected by the first half of 2013. The company intends to reinvest the majority of Project Renewal savings in the business to strengthen brand building and selling capabilities and accelerate growth.

• Operating cash flow of between $575 and $625 million

  • This operating cash flow guidance includes a U.S. pension plan contribution of approximately $100 million, approximately $50 million higher than the 2012 contribution, and

  • restructuring and restructuring-related cash payments of approximately $70 to $90 million.

• The company plans to fund capital expenditures of $175 to $200 million during the year.

A reconciliation of the 2013 earnings outlook is as follows:

President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Polk will present today at 3:00 p.m. ET. The presentation will be webcast live and may be accessed through Events & Presentations in the Investor Relations section of the Newell Rubbermaid website at www.newellrubbermaid.com. The webcast will be archived and available for replay for 30 days.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This release contains non-GAAP financial measures within the meaning of Regulation G promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Included in this release is a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP.

The company uses certain financial measures that are included in this press release both in explaining its results to stockholders and the investment community and in its internal evaluation and management of its businesses. The company's management believes that these measures — including those that are "non-GAAP financial measures" — and the information they provide are useful to investors since these measures (a) permit investors to view the company's performance using the same tools that company management uses to evaluate the company's past performance, reportable business segments and prospects for future performance and (b) determine certain elements of management's incentive compensation.

The company's management believes that core sales is useful to investors because it demonstrates the effect of foreign currency translation on reported sales. The effect of foreign currency translation on reported sales is determined by applying the current year and prior year monthly exchange rates to the local currency sales amounts in the current year period, with the difference in these two amounts being the currency impact from last year to this year and the residual representing changes attributable to core sales. The company's management believes that normalized operating income is useful because it provides investors with a meaningful perspective on the current underlying performance of the company's core ongoing operations. The company's management believes that normalized earnings per share, which excludes restructuring and restructuring-related charges and one-time events such as losses related to the extinguishments of debt, tax benefits and charges, impairment charges, discontinued operations and certain other items, is useful to investors because it permits investors to better understand year-over-year changes in underlying operating performance. The company uses both core sales and normalized earnings per share as two of the three performance criteria in its management cash bonus plan.

The company determined the tax effect of the items excluded from normalized diluted earnings per share by applying the estimated effective rate for the applicable jurisdiction in which the pre-tax items were incurred, and for which realization of the resulting tax benefit, if any, is expected.

While the company believes that these non-GAAP financial measures are useful in evaluating the company's performance, this information should be considered as supplemental in nature and not as a substitute for or superior to the related financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. Additionally, these non-GAAP financial measures may differ from similar measures presented by other companies.

About Newell Rubbermaid

Newell Rubbermaid Inc., an S&P 500 company, is a global marketer of consumer and commercial products with 2012 sales of approximately $5.9 billion and a strong portfolio of leading brands, including Rubbermaid^®, Sharpie^®, Graco^®, Calphalon^®, Irwin^®, Lenox^®, Levolor^®, Paper Mate^®, Dymo^®, Waterman^®, Parker^®, Goody^®, Rubbermaid Commercial Products^® and Aprica^®.

This press release and additional information about Newell Rubbermaid are available on the company's Web site, www.newellrubbermaid.com.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not historical in nature constitute forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to information or assumptions about the effects of sales, income/(loss), earnings per share, operating income, operating margin or gross margin improvements or declines, Project Renewal, the European Transformation Plan, capital and other expenditures, cash flow, dividends, restructuring and restructuring-related costs, costs and cost savings, inflation or deflation, particularly with respect to commodities such as oil and resin, debt ratings, and management's plans, projections and objectives for future operations and performance. These statements are accompanied by words such as "anticipate," "expect," "project," "will," "believe," "estimate" and similar expressions. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our dependence on the strength of retail, commercial and industrial sectors of the economy in light of the continuation or escalation of the global economic slowdown or regional sovereign debt issues; currency fluctuations; competition with other manufacturers and distributors of consumer products; major retailers' strong bargaining power; changes in the prices of raw materials and sourced products and our ability to obtain raw materials and sourced products in a timely manner from suppliers; our ability to develop innovative new products and to develop, maintain and strengthen our end-user brands; our ability to expeditiously close facilities and move operations while managing foreign regulations and other impediments; our ability to successfully implement information technology solutions throughout our organization; our ability to improve productivity and streamline operations; changes to our credit ratings; significant increases in the funding obligations related to our pension plans due to declining asset values, declining interest rates or otherwise; the imposition of tax liabilities greater than our provisions for such matters; the risks inherent in our foreign operations and those factors listed in the company's most recently filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and Exhibit 99.1 thereto, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Newell Rubbermaid
Nancy O'Donnell
Vice President, Investor Relations
+1 (770) 418-7723
or
David Doolittle
Vice President, Corporate Communications
+1 (770) 418-7519

KEYWORDS: United States North America Georgia

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

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