Newell Rubbermaid wins with 3 of 5 businesses

New product launches in key categories and strong marketing helped Newell Rubbermaid gain market share during the company’s third quarter.

The leading consumer goods company said sales for the period ended September 30, grew a modest 2.1% to $1.5 billion while net income, aided by the sale of the company’s hardware business, increased to $193.3 million, or 66 cents a share, from $108.3 million, or 37 cents a share.

The company said successful new product launches, expanded distribution and stronger marketing initiatives delivered market share gains in its business segments of baby and parenting, home solutions and tools. Growth was supported by increased advertising and promotion spending funded by expenses savings related to a corporate initiative called Project Renewal.

Of the company’s five operating segments, home solutions turned in the strongest performance, growing sales by 6.8% to $431.4 million thanks to the performance of Rubbermaid, Levolor and Calphalon brands.

Sales in the company’s tools segment increased 3.4% to $210.6 million, aided by a promotion called National Tradesman Day and new product launches in Latin America.

The baby and parenting business grew 4.8% to $194.2 million.

At the other end of the spectrum was the writing segment where sales declined 0.9% to $454.7 million due to weakness in the office superstore channel. The commercial products group’s sales declined 4.5% to $193.6 million due to softness in the Rubbermaid Healthcare business.