EL PASO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2017--
Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ, NM: HELE), designer, developer and
worldwide marketer of consumer brand-name housewares, health and home,
nutritional supplement and beauty products, today announced that its
Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of $400 million of its
outstanding common shares (“common stock” or “shares”) in keeping with
its stated intention to opportunistically return to shareholders capital
not otherwise deployed for core business growth or strategic
acquisitions. This new authorization is effective May 10, 2017, for a
period of three years, and replaces Helen of Troy’s existing repurchase
authorization, of which $83 million remained.
Helen of Troy may purchase shares on a discretionary basis from time to
time through open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions or
other means, including through Rule 10b5-1 trading plans. The timing and
amount of any transactions will be subject to the discretion of Helen of
Troy and may be based upon market conditions as well as other
opportunities that Helen of Troy may have for the use or investment of
its capital. The repurchase program does not require the purchase of any
minimum number of shares and may be implemented, modified, suspended or
discontinued in whole or in part at any time without further notice.
In total, the $400 million share repurchase plan represents
approximately 15% of the Company’s outstanding common stock, based upon
the Company’s closing price on May 10, 2017. As of April 21, 2017, Helen
of Troy had approximately 27.1 million shares outstanding.
“This new stock repurchase program reinforces the Board’s commitment to
delivering superior shareholder value and underscores the confidence we
have in our business strategy, our financial performance, and our
prospects for fiscal 2018 and longer-term,” said Timothy F. Meeker,
Chairman of the Board.
Julien R. Mininberg, Chief Executive Officer, stated: “We are pleased
our robust balance sheet and cash flow generation allow us to deploy
capital in line with our capital strategy, which is to invest in support
of our long-term growth, make strategic acquisitions, and
opportunistically repurchase our common shares. We remain confident in
our long-term growth prospects, and in our ability to prudently allocate
capital to create shareholder value."
About Helen of Troy Limited:
Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ, NM: HELE) is a leading global consumer
products company offering creative solutions for its customers through a
strong portfolio of well-recognized and widely-trusted brands, including
OXO®, OXO Tot®, Hydro Flask®, Vicks®, Braun®, Honeywell®, PUR®,
Febreze®; Revlon®, Pro Beauty Tools®, Sure®, Pert®, Infusium23®, Brut®,
Ammens®, Hot Tools®, Bed Head®, Dr. Sinatra®, Dr. David Williams®, and
Dr. Whitaker®. All trademarks herein belong to Helen of Troy Limited (or
its affiliates) and/or are used under license from their respective
licensors.
For more information about Helen of Troy, please visit www.hotus.com.
Forward Looking Statements:
Certain written and oral statements made by our Company and
subsidiaries of our Company may constitute "forward-looking statements"
as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
This includes statements made in this press release. Generally, the
words "anticipates", "believes", "expects", "plans", "may", "will",
"should", "seeks", "estimates", "project", "predict", "potential",
"continue", "intends", and other similar words identify forward-looking
statements. All statements that address operating results, events or
developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future,
including statements related to sales, earnings per share results, and
statements expressing general expectations about future operating
results, are forward-looking statements and are based upon our current
expectations and various assumptions. We believe there is a reasonable
basis for our expectations and assumptions, but there can be no
assurance that we will realize our expectations or that our assumptions
will prove correct. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks that
could cause them to differ materially from actual results. Accordingly,
we caution readers not to place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press
release should be read in conjunction with, and are subject to and
qualified by, the risks described in the Company's Form 10-K for the
year ended February 28, 2017 and in our other filings with the SEC.
Investors are urged to refer to the risk factors referred to above for a
description of these risks. Such risks include, among others, our
ability to deliver products to our customers in a timely manner and
according to their fulfillment standards, the costs of complying with
the business demands and requirements of large sophisticated customers,
our relationships with key customers and licensors, our dependence on
the strength of retail economies and vulnerabilities to any prolonged
economic downturn, our dependence on sales to several large customers
and the risks associated with any loss or substantial decline in sales
to top customers, expectations regarding our recent and future
acquisitions or divestitures, including our ability to realize
anticipated cost savings, synergies and other benefits along with our
ability to effectively integrate acquired businesses or separate
divested businesses, circumstances which may contribute to future
impairment of goodwill, intangible or other long-lived assets, the
retention and recruitment of key personnel, foreign currency exchange
rate fluctuations, disruptions in U.S., U.K., Euro zone, and other
international credit markets, risks associated with weather conditions,
the duration and severity of the cold and flu season and other related
factors, our dependence on foreign sources of supply and foreign
manufacturing, and associated operational risks including, but not
limited to, long lead times, consistent local labor availability and
capacity, and timely availability of sufficient shipping carrier
capacity, risks to the Nutritional Supplements segment associated with
the availability, purity and integrity of materials used in the
manufacture of vitamins, minerals and supplements, the impact of
changing costs of raw materials, labor and energy on cost of goods sold
and certain operating expenses, the geographic concentration and peak
season capacity of certain U.S. distribution facilities increases our
exposure to significant shipping disruptions and added shipping and
storage costs, our projections of product demand, sales and net income
are highly subjective in nature and future sales and net income could
vary in a material amount from such projections, the risks associated
with the use of trademarks licensed from and to third parties, our
ability to develop and introduce a continuing stream of new products to
meet changing consumer preferences, increased product liability and
reputational risks associated with the formulation and distribution of
vitamins, minerals and supplements, the risks associated with potential
adverse publicity and negative public perception regarding the use of
vitamins, minerals and supplements, trade barriers, exchange controls,
expropriations, and other risks associated with U.S. and foreign
operations, the risks to our liquidity as a result of changes to capital
market conditions and other constraints or events that impose
constraints on our cash resources and ability to operate our business,
the costs, complexity and challenges of upgrading and managing our
global information systems, the risks associated with information
security breaches, the increased complexity of compliance with new
government regulations covering vitamins, minerals and supplements, the
risks associated with product recalls, product liability, other claims,
and related litigation against us, the risks associated with accounting
for tax positions, tax audits and related disputes with taxing
authorities, the risks of potential changes in laws in the U.S. or
abroad, including tax laws, regulations or treaties, employment and
health insurance laws and regulations, and laws relating to
environmental policy, financial regulation, transportation policy and
infrastructure policy along with the costs and complexities of
compliance with such laws, and our ability to continue to avoid
classification as a controlled foreign corporation. We undertake no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements
as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170515005585/en/
Source: Helen of Troy Limited
Helen of Troy Limited
Anne Rakunas, 915-225-4841
Director,
External Communications
or
ICR, Inc.
Allison Malkin,
203-682-8225
hotus@icrinc.com