|
ROBERT BOSCH Robert Bosch CFO Stefan Asenkerschbaumer said that Bosch’s reported 2015 revenue of EUR 70.6 billion makes Bosch the supplier with the highest revenue in the world. He also noted that Bosch is no longer a classic supplier, but is changing into an IT group, whose major investments will go to projects connected to digitalization and networking. Their goal is for each electronic product to be Internet compatible. STANLEY BLACK & DECKER Q1 revenues rose 2% to $2.7 billion, driven by a 5% increase in organic growth. Positive volume of 4% and a 1% increase in price more than offset the 3% negative effect of currency. Net sales in Tools & Storage rose 4%, with volume up 7% and price up 1%, offsetting a 4% negative impact from currency. Favorable weather conditions in much of the U.S. contributed approximately one to two points to growth for Tools & Storage in the quarter. Tools & Storage delivered 8% organic growth for the quarter despite difficult comps and slower industrial end markets. Net sales in Security dropped 1% and net sales in Industrial dropped 5%. SB&D raised their guidance for the year, and now expects organic growth between 3% and 4% compared to previous forecasts of 3% growth. They attributed the increase in guidance to stronger organic growth within Tools & Storage and lower than expected headwinds from foreign currency. Positives are expected to more than offset slightly higher than planned expenses relating to a major Tools & Storage launch in the second half of 2016. From their Q1 Conference Call with Analysts: All global markets were up for the quarter, with the U.S. up 6%, Europe up 3%, the total emerging market group up 3%, led by global Tools and Storage, and the rest of the world up 1%. Total Tools revenue growth was 4% after allowing for a 4% negative impact from currency. North America led the way with revenue growth of 10%. Within Global Tools & Storage, Power Tools posted 10% organic growth with their underlying product lines: professional, consumer and accessories, which each individually generated 10% growth. Hand Tools & Storage grew 5% organically. They are preparing for a major new power tool rollout in the second half of the year that will be a breakthrough innovation. They typically have an outflow of cash in the first quarter because Tools & Storage inventory levels rise so they can make sure they are prepared for second and third quarter demand. Profitability for Tools & Storage overall moved to modestly positive from flat for the year. First quarter performance in Tools & Storage got a boost from an unusually mild winter in the Northeast; they expect growth will be closer to 6% to 6.5% going forward. Brands do well online. The Black & Decker brand for DIY users is extremely popular, but the real driver is DeWalt, the brand targeted at Pros. They promote DeWalt because prior to the merger DeWalt was not available online. DeWalt is their single biggest dollar contributor to the online business. A couple of years ago they did a complete refresh of the Black & Decker business because it had lost its identity and gotten stale. During the refresh they tried to bring a millennial focus to Black & Decker, and added lifestyle elements related to the millennial population, as well as Ecosmart features, which include the sustainability of some of the products and packaging. Since then the B&D brand has made a lot of progress and become the choice of this up and coming demographic. That’s why they think Black & Decker has tremendous potential for the medium to long term as the generational shift continues. Other News: DeWalt introduced an android smartphone designed for the construction industry in the U.K. They teamed up with Global Mobile Communications, the U.K. leader in rugged phone technology. The phone is dustproof, waterproof and weatherproof and can withstand a two-metre drop onto solid concrete. It works with gloves on, and has a rear camera and a battery that provides seven to eight hours of talk time and wireless Qi charging. The MD501 is about $615 in U.S. currency. NEWELL BRANDS Newell Brand's Q1 sales increased 4.0% to $1.31 billion. Core sales grew 5.6%, with growth in all five segments and all four regions. NB expects core sales growth for this year to range between 3% and 4%. Tools net sales declined 0.4% to $179.7 million, driven by a 440 basis point negative impact due to foreign currency. Core sales grew 4% with strong growth in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific partially offset by continued weakness in Brazil. Newell said it plans to offload a number of businesses with annual revenue of $250 million to $300 million in the next two to three years, the majority of which will be from the Jarden portfolio. The Jarden acquisition added about 120 brands to Newell's portfolio, including Sunbeam appliances, Yankee Candle and Crock-Pot cookware. Newell Rubbermaid closed their deal to acquire Jarden and changed their corporate name to Newell Brands in mid-April. Newell Brands will be under the direction of former Newell Rubbermaid CEO Michael Polk. The company is anticipating incremental annualized cost synergies of about $500 million over four years. The acquisition is expected to immediately add to the bottom line. NB has hired Cohn & Wolfe to support the transformation of their public relations. Edelman remains the company’s corporate PR firm; Cohn and Wolf is taking over PR duties previously handled by Newell’s’ ad agency BBH. Global VP of marketing operations, Jen Hogan, said that hiring a specialist PR agency will allow them to take a more sophisticated approach to public relations. Public relations for individual brands will still be handled by inhouse teams. The new agency has a presence in almost all of the 17 countries NB plans to market in. Some brands will be launching outside the U.S. for the first time. TTI/TECHTRONIC INDUSTRIES Milwaukee Tool wants to double the size of their headquarters in Brookfield, Wisconsin. The $33 million project would be funded in part by $6 million in tax incremental financing from the City of Brookfield. Milwaukee is also asking for additional tax benefits from The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Milwaukee has more than tripled their workforce at the Brookfield campus since 2009. There are now more than 700 employees on site, and expansion plans would add 300 to 500 more in the next five years. Plans call for a four-story, 200,000-square-foot building. President Steve Richman joined Milwaukee Tool in 2007, two years after the company was acquired by TTI. Richman recently gave an in-depth interview to Milwaukee Biz Times, and told them that when he took over, the company was very internally focused; since then they have changed their focus to the needs of their target customers, professionals. Richman said the process they use of disruptive innovation extends from products throughout the organization. At the time he took over Milwaukee made corded power tools and had few accessories, no hand tools and a 3% share for cordless tools in North America. From 2005 through 2015, Milwaukee was issued 327 patents, and has been assigned 9 patents through the first 50 days of 2016, including one for a tablet case that uses a power tool battery. Richman said their culture is focused on high expectations, rewards performance and values collaboration above all else in order to innovate at the speed they expect. They rely heavily on input from their users. Milwaukee Tool is now on its eighth generation of lithium technology for batteries. The teams have a rapid prototyping center at their disposal in the building, with a goal of improving speed to market. One of the goals of the renovation of their headquarters is to give the advanced concept development teams more room. Milwaukee has recently expanded into lighting, and Richman told Biz Times that the company has plans for other product lines he couldn’t discuss. TRIMBLE Trimble's Q1 revenue of $583 million was flat as compared to the first quarter of 2015. Engineering and Construction revenue was up 4% to $309.8 million. |
|
