Mattel Says Barbie Sales Edge Higher
February 01 2016 - 5:40PM
Dow Jones News
Toy maker Mattel Inc. reported its first quarterly revenue
increase in more than two years as sales of its iconic Barbie
notched a rare increase, driving profit up in the key holiday
quarter.
Shares jumped 7.8% to $28.85 in recent after-hours trading
Monday.
Among its core brands, Barbie reported a 1% increase in gross
sales, compared with a 12% decline a year ago—and the first
increase in world-wide sales since the third quarter of 2013.
The results come days after the toy maker, the world's largest
by sales, announced another makeover to the Barbie doll, which now
will come in three sizes: curvy, petite and tall.
The doll, first released in 1959, had been long criticized for
reinforcing a largely homogeneous standard of beauty.
Fisher-Price, which last year had reported a 11% decline, saw an
8% increase in the latest quarter. Meanwhile, Wheels, which
includes the Hot Wheels and Matchbox brands and which this year
included Star Wars-inspired cars and replica vehicles, reported a
17% sales increase.
Its "Other Girls" brand, however, continue to weigh on the
company's results, with a 36% sales drop in the latest period and
ending the year down 26%.
Chief Executive Christopher Sinclair had projected a "modestly
stronger" quarter, compared with the three months ended in
September. Mr. Sinclair, a former PepsiCo Inc. executive and
longtime Mattel board member, took over the company's helm last
year and has been trying to revamp a roughly 2½ -year sales slump
by overhauling management, reigniting the company's creative
department, and seeking partnerships with technology companies.
Monday morning, for example, Mattel and Amazon.com Inc. disclosed a
production deal to make American Girl specials for Amazon's Prime
video. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
Overall, Mattel reported a profit of $215.2 million, or 63 cents
a share, compared with $149.9 million, or 44 cents a share, a year
earlier. Sales edged up to nearly $2 billion, a 0.3% improvement
from the year earlier, or 7% when adjusted for currency
conversions. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters projected
earnings of 61 cents a share on $1.91 billion in sales.
Gross margin narrowed to 50.2% from 50.4% a year earlier.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 01, 2016 17:25 ET (22:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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