Healthcare, home segments drive Q4 growth for Helen of Troy

EL PASO, Texas — Helen of Troy on Tuesday released results for the 3- and 12-month periods ending Feb. 28, 2015. According to CEO Julien Mininberg, the company enjoyed a “strong” fourth quarter, which saw revenue increase by 21% or $65.2 million. 

 

Net sales for the company’s core businesses increased by nearly 9%. The healthcare/home environment segment rose by 16.6%, which the company attributes to new product launches and a strong cough-flu season. Personal care dipped by 3.7%, compared to an almost 13% declined for the first half of fiscal 2015. 

 

“Our Nutritional Supplements segment, acquired in June 2014, grew in line with expectations. Our Personal Care business slowed its decline in the fourth quarter as we make progress toward stabilizing that segment,” Mininberg said. 

 

“Stepping back to assess the transformational changes we embarked upon at the start of fiscal year 2015, we have made significant progress toward our stated goals of improving organic growth, improving our organization and culture, and optimizing our capital structure. Marketing investments behind new products and other demand creation initiatives helped drive fiscal year 2015 core business growth of 2.1%, despite currency headwinds,” Mininberg added. “These investments helped grow our market shares in several core categories, and strengthened our pipeline. We began upgrading and globalizing our shared services capability and are seeing gains in both efficiency and collaboration.”