Acco Brands 1Q loss narrows
Acco Brands posts smaller 1st-qtr loss, but still falls short of Wall Street predictions
LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. (AP) -- Acco Brands Corp. said Friday its first-quarter loss narrowed, helped by sales contributions from a recent acquisition. But the results fell significantly short of Wall Street predictions and Acco shares tumbled.
The company, which makes Swingline staplers, Day-Timer planners and other products, posted a loss of $9 million, or 8 cents per share, compared with a loss of $17.4 million, or 31 cents per share, in the same quarter the year before.
Excluding one-time items, the company said it posted an adjusted loss of 7 cents per share for the recent quarter ended March 31.
Revenue jumped 22 percent to $352 million from $288.9 million.
Analysts, on average, expected no gain or loss per share on $386.2 million in revenue, according to FactSet.
Sales at the company's North American business jumped 38 percent to $136.7 million, boosted by its acquisition of Meadwestvaco Corp.'s consumer and office products business. International sales rose 14 percent to $126.2 million.
Sales of computer products fell 12 percent to $36.8 million on soft demand for computer accessories.
Acco said it still expects to post an adjusted 2013 profit of 95 cents to $1.05 per share. Revenue is expected to be flat with the company's year-ago total of $1.76 billion. Analysts, on average, expect a profit of $1 on $1.92 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.
Acco shares fell 35 cents, or 5 percent, to $6.50 in midday trading, after falling as low as $5.97 earlier in the day. Over the past 52 weeks, the company's shares have traded between $5.80 and $13.30.
