WD-40 Co. on April 9 reported that its net sales for the second quarter, ending Feb. 29, totaled $78.9 million, down 0.5 percent from 2007s second quarter, while net income declined 3.1 percent, to $8.7 million, compared to the year-earlier period.
Earnings per share were 51 cents in the second quarter, compared to 52 cents per share in the same quarter a year earlier. Cost of goods during the second quarter was 51.7 percent of sales, down from 50.8 percent in the second quarter of 2007, according to the San Diego-based company. WD-40s fiscal year runs from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31.
Global sales of the lubricants WD-40 and 3-in-One were up 4.5 percent compared to the year-earlier period. Total sales included 53.3 percent from the Americas, 37.7 percent from Europe and 9.3 percent from Asia/Pacific. In the Americas, sales for the second quarter fell 14.4 percent from a year earlier.
While the shakiness of the U.S. economy has created some challenges for us in our own backyard, our strategy of diversification is paying off as we continue to see strong growth in our international markets, said Garry Ridge, WD-40 president and chief executive officer. In fact, more than 57 percent of our sales in the second quarter were outside of the United States. While we saw sales decline in the U.S. during the quarter, we had solid growth in Canada and Latin America that made up for some of the loss, Ridge said.
In the Asia/Pacific region, sales for the second quarter climbed 20.9 percent from a year earlier.
Australia continued its strong growth trend with sales up 35.5 percent in the first half of this year, Ridge said. We are very pleased with our growth in China as we wrap up our first full year of direct distribution in that market.