By Thomas
Tupperware Brands Corp. took a big charge in its fourth quarter that wiped out profits and said it expects the current quarter to be dented by weak demand in Indonesia, India and North America, sending its shares down 45 percent.
The storage container maker’s first-quarter sales growth forecast missed Street estimates due to a planned closure of a factory that serves Europe.
The downbeat forecasts cast a shadow on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings, which beat estimates on strong demand in Brazil and Mexico.
Orlando, Fla.-based Tupperware said recent changes in the US tax law resulted in a $375 million charge in its fourth quarter, leading to a $326.5 million net loss from a net income of $79 million a year earlier.
Excluding items, however, the company earned $1.59 per share, 9 cents ahead of market estimate.
Tupperware reported a surprise 2 percent drop in sales, to $588.6 million, while analysts had expected a rise of 0.7 percent, to $605.4 million, according to Thomson Reuters.
Tupperware’s stock drop marked its worst one-day drop since July 26, 2017.
The direct-selling company, which banks on homemakers to sell its products, said average “active sellers” dipped 3 percent in the quarter, mainly due to the sale of its Beauticontrol beauty business in December.
Tupperware said it expected sales to expand between 1 percent and 3 percent in the first quarter ending March 31, compared with analysts’ estimate of a 3.7 percent growth.
The company said in October it planned to shutter a manufacturing and supply chain plant in France, with the brunt of the impact expected in January.
Adjusted earnings for the first quarter are expected to be between $1.01 and $1.06 per share, the company said, lower than analysts’ average estimate of $1.11 .
