WD-40 Co.s net income reached $6.8 million for the quarter ending Nov. 30, down 25 percent from the prior year period, while net sales were up 5 percent at $84.9 million.
Earnings per share fell to 42 cents per diluted share in WD-40s fiscal first quarter, compared to 54 cents per share in the year-ago period. San Diego-headquartered WD-40s fiscal year goes from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31.
First-quarter sales in the Americas rose 4 percent to $40.6 million, sales in Europe declined 2 percent to $30.1 million, and Asia-Pacific sales grew 30 percent to $14.2 million.
The Americas and Asia Pacific regions experienced growth in the first quarter driven by sales of the multi-purpose maintenance products, said Garry Ridge, WD-40 president and chief executive officer. We continue to see economic uncertainty in Europe, and the results in the first quarter reflect some of this uncertainty.
Ridge noted the company experienced increased costs from a change to its North American supply chain and from increased advertising and sales promotion expenses in the quarter. The promotion expenses rose 29 percent from a year earlier to $7.8 million.
Worldwide net sales for the WD-40 and 3-in-One lubricants segment climbed 6 percent to $70.8 million for the quarter ending Nov. 30, compared to the prior year quarter.