Sales rise in WD-40’s first quarter

Lubricant maker WD-40 Co. reported net sales of $95.3 million for its first fiscal quarter 2013, an increase of 12% from the same quarter last year. Net income for the first quarter, which ended Nov. 30, 2012, was $10.9 million, an increase of 61% compared with the prior-year fiscal quarter.

Sales in the first quarter for WD-40’s multi-purpose maintenance products, which include the WD-40 multi-use product, 3-in-One, Blue Works and the WD-40 Specialist product lines, rose 15% year over year.  Homecare and cleaning products sales were down 4% from the first quarter in the previous year. The U.S. homecare and cleaning products are considered harvest brands, providing healthy profit returns to the company and are becoming a smaller part of the business as the multi-purpose maintenance products sales grow, the company said.

Net sales by segment as a percent of total net sales were 48% from the Americas, 37% from Europe and 15% from Asia-Pacific.

"We are pleased with our solid revenue growth during the first quarter, particularly in our multi-purpose maintenance products, and because we were able to hit our goal of a 50% gross margin, we achieved solid growth in our net income as well," said Garry Ridge, president and CEO of WD-40. "We have remained disciplined in building our business for long-term, sustainable growth by implementing our core strategic drivers, and the results of the first quarter show a solid start to the year. In fact, the first quarter of 2013 was the best sales quarter in company history."

The San Diego-based company expects fiscal year 2013 net sales of $356.0 million to $370.0 million. Net income is projected at $36.5 million to $38.0 million. The company expects advertising and promotion expenses of 7% to 8% of net sales.