EL PASO, Texas, July 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ, NM: HELE), designer, developer and worldwide marketer of brand-name household, personal care and healthcare/home environment consumer products, today reported record first quarter net sales revenue and record operating income for the quarter ended May 31, 2012.

Fiscal first quarter net sales revenue increased 10.6 percent to $300,211,000 from $271,467,000 in the same period of the prior year.

Housewares. First quarter net sales revenue in the Housewares segment increased 13.8 percent to $60,249,000 compared to $52,946,000 for the same period last year, demonstrating the continued strength of our OXO brands.

Personal Care. First quarter net sales revenue in the Personal Care segment decreased 4.2 percent to $117,552,000 compared to $122,718,000 for the same period last year, resulting from a difficult retail environment in the U.S., Latin America and Europe, increased competitive trade promotional activities, product availability issues with certain suppliers, and the impact of foreign currency fluctuations.

Healthcare/Home Environment. First quarter net sales revenue in the Healthcare/Home Environment segment increased 27.8 percent to $122,410,000 compared to $95,803,000 for the same period last year, reflecting the addition of $24,291,000 of incremental sales from our recent acquisition of the PUR water filtration business on December 30, 2011.

Net income for the fiscal first quarter was $23,472,000, or $0.74 per fully diluted share, compared to $24,605,000, or $0.78 per fully diluted share, in the prior year first quarter, a decrease in net income of $1,133,000 or 4.6 percent.

Consolidated gross profit margin as a percentage of net sales revenue for the fiscal quarter ended May 31, 2012 decreased 0.1 percentage point to 40.4 percent compared to 40.5 percent for the same period last year. Our consolidated gross profit margin was unfavorably impacted by the effects of foreign currency exchange rates on sales, increased air freight costs incurred in the Personal Care segment, higher closeout sales in the Housewares segment and general product cost increases across all segments. These unfavorable impacts were mostly offset by the PUR water filtration acquisition.

Selling, general and administrative expense as a percentage of net sales revenue increased by 0.8 percentage points to 30.0 percent for the three months ended May 31, 2012 compared to 29.2 percent for the same period last year. The factors that contributed to the increase in SG&A include additional advertising spending, transition service fees incurred in connection with the PUR acquisition, higher depreciation as a result of an upgrade of our enterprise resource planning system, higher amortization as a result of the PUR acquisition, the impact of revaluation losses from foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, and higher incentive compensation expenses under new performance compensation arrangements.

Operating income for the fiscal first quarter was $31,148,000 compared to $30,654,000 in the same period last year, an increase of 1.6%. EBITDA without share-based compensation for the fiscal first quarter was $41,846,000 compared to $38,253,000 in the same period last year, an increase of $3,593,000 or 9.4%. The increases in operating income and EBITDA without share-based compensation reflect the impact of the PUR acquisition and organic growth in the Housewares segment and the Healthcare/Home Environment core business.

Net income and earnings per fully diluted share were unfavorably impacted by a year-over-year increase in tax expense of $1,624,000, to $4,387,000 for the fiscal quarter ended May 31, 2012, which equates to 15.7 percent of pretax earnings compared to 10.1 percent for the same period last year. The increase in tax expense is due to an increase in the proportion of taxable income in higher tax rate jurisdictions, resulting primarily from the Kaz and PUR acquisitions.

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Helen of Troy Limited Reports Record Net Sales Revenue And Record Operating Income For The First Quarter Of Fiscal 2013