Net income for WD-40 totaled $10.9 million for the quarter ending Nov. 30, up 61 percent from the prior year period, while net sales were up 12 percent at $95.3 million.
Earnings per share rose to 69 cents per diluted share in WD-40s fiscal first quarter, compared to 42 cents per share in the year-ago period. San Diego-based WD-40s fiscal year goes from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31.
WD-40 President and CEO Garry Ridge said the fiscal first quarter was the best sales quarter in company history. 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 percent gross margin, we achieved solid growth in our net income as well, Ridge said.
Compared to year-ago numbers, fiscal first-quarter sales in the Americas grew 12 percent to $45.4 million, sales in Europe rose 17 percent to $35.2 million, and Asia-Pacific sales increased 3 percent to $14.7 million.
Ridge pointed out that some sales the company expected to hit in the fourth quarter of last fiscal year slid into the first quarter of this fiscal year, particularly in Europe. Sales were a little softer in Asia/Pacific than we have seen recently, due to the ebbs and flows of our long-term approach to building the market in China and other Asian countries, he noted.
Worldwide net sales for WD-40 and 3-in-One lubricants increased 15 percent to $81.8 million for the quarter ending Nov. 30, compared to the prior year quarter.