Edgewell Personal Care Company has reported a decline in net sales for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, with total revenue reaching $478.4 million, a 2.1% decrease compared to the same period in the prior year. “On an organic basis, net sales decreased 1.3%,” the company stated in its official press release earlier this week.
Category performance
According to Edgewell, the decline in net sales was primarily due to reduced volumes in its Wet Shave and Sun and Skin Care segments. However, the company noted that its Feminine Care segment showed global growth credited to “increased demand for our products.”
Organic sales in North America declined by 3.9% due in part to lower sales volume in the Women’s Systems and Shave Prep segments of the Wet Shave category. These declines contributed to an overall category drop of 2.4% or $7.2 million in net sales, which offset international growth, the company reported.
Overall, the Wet Shave category segment profit decreased by $7.1 million, or 13.2%. This drop was significant enough to impact the Sun and Skin Care category, which was “offset by declines in Feminine Care and Wet Shave” despite net sales growth of $5.2 million, or 4.5%.
Q1 margins, income, and profitability
Edgewell’s gross margin for the quarter stood at 45.2%, down slightly from 45.5% in the prior year. As reported in the company’s press release, this was due to “an unfavorable product mix and increased input costs,” though pricing strategies and cost-saving initiatives helped offset some of these pressures.
Operating income for the quarter was reported at $45.7 million, down from $48.3 million in the same period last year. The company stated that this decrease was primarily driven by “lower gross profit and increased marketing investments.”
Total net earnings for the quarter also declined to $30.2 million, or $0.56 per diluted share, compared to $32.8 million, or $0.60 per diluted share, in the prior year.
Company strategy and market outlook
Edgewell acknowledged the challenges it is currently facing in a company-issued press statement but asserted its optimism regarding the year ahead.
Despite the declines in overall net sales and the struggles in the North American market, the company noted top line growth across international markets and that it “exceeded our gross margin expectations, driven by further productivity savings,” which “resulted in better than expected constant currency adjusted EBITDA and earnings per share.”
Looking forward, Edgewell reaffirmed its full-year outlook, expecting net sales to be flat to down in the low single digits on an organic basis. The company also projected adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.54 to $2.74.
Edgewell concluded that it plans to navigate the current market conditions by focusing on “driving operational performance,” and that the company expects to “deliver organic net sales, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS within our previously provided range, and the latter despite these greater than anticipated foreign currency headwinds” over the next fiscal year.
