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Rayovac dims expectations
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December 19, 2000: 7:10 a.m. ET
Battery maker says sales are off due to Y2K buying a year ago, sees rebound
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Battery maker Rayovac lowered earnings guidance Tuesday for its current quarter and fiscal year, saying that year-earlier sales were inflated by Y2K preparations of many consumers.
The company says it is looking for earnings of 30 to 33 cents a share in the fiscal first quarter, which ends Dec. 31. That's below both the 47 cent a share forecast of analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call and the 48 cents a share it earned a year earlier.
Revenue is now expected to drop to $186 million to $188 million in the current quarter from $214 million a year earlier, rather than rising to $219 million as analysts expected.
The No. 3 U.S. battery maker also said it expects fiscal 2001 earnings to be in the $1.30 to $1.35 a share range, rather than the $1.47 a share First Call estimate. The company earned $1.32 a share in fiscal 2000.
The company said it expects to top fiscal 2000 sales of $703.9 million, although it did not give a new sales range for the year, other than to say it expects to soon see revenue return to a 7 to 8 percent growth rate. Analysts were looking for sales of $753.5 million for the year, which would be a 7 percent growth rate from year earlier results.
The company also announced a global restructuring program that it said would provide annual savings of $7 million to $8 million starting in 2002, but would result in a $17 million pretax charge in the current period. Details of the program are due at a future time.
Shares of Rayovac (ROV: Research, Estimates) were unchanged at $14 in Monday trading. 
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