Energizer Holdings Inc. (ENR) announced better-than-expected revenue for the fourth quarter, though its adjusted earnings fell short of consensus estimates, mainly due to higher costs related to health and safety of employees during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the company expects the safety related costs to substantially decrease in the next quarter.
The St. Louis, Missouri-based manufacturers of batteries posted a loss of $55.6 million, or 81 cents per share for the three-month period ended September 30, as compared to a profit of $41.9 million, or 61 cents per share in the comparable period last year. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 59 cents per share, significantly down from 93 cents per share last year, and below analysts’ average estimate of 81 cents.
Revenue for the quarter jumped 6.1 percent to $763.0 million, beating consensus forecast $747.2 million. The surge in revenue was mainly driven by strong demand for batteries during the pandemic.
CEO at Energizer Holdings, Alan Hoskins said “we have taken action to increase our agility and ability to serve our customers. We expect the increased costs related to COVID-19 will be substantially reduced by the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2021. The actions we have taken include enhancing our manufacturing network, reorganization of our global product supply structure, and acceleration of our investment in enterprise analytics to drive better, and more timely, decision-making.”
Looking forward, the company projected adjusted profit in the range of $2.95 per share to $3.25 per share for the fiscal 2021, and revenue growth between 2-4 percent.
Energizer Holdings (NYSE: ENR) shares plummeted more than 11 percent in the mid-day trading Thursday following the results. The 52-week range of the stock is $26.60-$53.84. At current trading price, the company’s market value stands at nearly $2.872 billion. Overall, ENR stock has declined more than 13 percent on year-to-date basis, including today’s drop.
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