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Wal-Mart To Purchase Sustainably Harvested Fish

Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) announced it will purchase all of its wild-caught fresh and frozen fish for the North American market from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified fisheries within the next three to five years. The first step toward this goal will be to have product that currently comes from MSC-certified fisheries carry the MSC eco-label starting later this year. “We believe it’s absolutely essential to take a leadership role in working with suppliers to ensure that the world’s wild fish populations can grow and replenish themselves,” said Peter Redmond, Wal-Mart vice president and divisional merchandise manager of deli and seafood. “The MSC label assures our customers that they are buying from a retailer that is taking concrete steps to keep wild-caught fish available to present and future generations.” Wal-Mart is encouraging fisheries to adopt policies that ensure customers will continue to be supplied with a full range of wild-caught fish. The company currently works with a number of MSC-certified fisheries and is giving non-certified suppliers three to five years to develop plans and programs to become certified. Said Rupert Howes, chief executive of the Marine Stewardship Council, “We hope this commitment to the MSC program will encourage other fisheries to participate […]

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Hain Celestial Announces Record Sales, Earnings

The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: HAIN), a leading natural/ organic food and personal care products company, reported results for the second quarter ended December 31, 2005. Hain Celestial reported second quarter record sales of $186.2 million, a 10% increase over the prior year’s $169.8 million. Net income reached $12.7 million, a second quarter record, an increase of 19% from the prior year’s $10.7 million. Diluted earnings for the second quarter this year were a record $0.33 per share as compared to $0.29 in the prior year’s second quarter. “I am proud of our team as we accomplished record sales and profits with significant improvement in operating margins and our cash conversion,” said Irwin D. Simon, CEO. “We saw strength in each of our Grocery, Tea and Personal Care lines in both sales and consumption driven by Earth’s Best, Imagine soups, Garden of Eatin’, Terra, Rice Dream, WestSoy, Ethnic Gourmet, Celestial Seasonings, Jason and Zia Natural Skincare. We are also excited by the progress we are making on the operating front with enhanced margins despite increased input costs. Our sales and earnings continue to grow, driven by strong top line growth, improved margins and focused working capital management.” The Company’s […]

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Power Integrations Reports Q4, 2005 Results

Power Integrations (Nasdaq:POWI), a leader in energy efficient chips, reported record revenues for Q4 of $37.9 million, up 13 percent compared to Q4 last year, and up 4 percent from Q3. Revenue growth was driven primarily by industrial and communications revenues, which increased 63 percent and 15 percent respectively on a year-over-year basis. Gross margin for the fourth quarter was 51.1 percent, up from 48.3 percent in the year-ago quarter and 49.5 percent in the prior quarter. Said CEO Balu Balakrishnan, “We improved our gross margin in 2005 while expanding our market share and reducing inventories by nearly 30 percent. We also grew our net income and cash flow for the year despite significant patent-litigation expenses. While patent litigation is a temporary drag on our operating results, protecting our intellectual property is critical to maximizing our long-term profitability. “We have strong momentum entering 2006,” he added. “2005 was a record year in terms of design wins, and we have a number of incremental growth drivers coming into play in the year ahead. Energy-efficiency standards for external power supplies are having a major impact on markets such as cordless phones and cell phones. We have recently won designs for Panasonic and […]

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American Power Conversion Reports Record Revenue, Lower Earnings

American Power Conversion reports that fourth quarter revenues rose 13% but earnings slid 67%. The company had record revenues for 2005, but lower profits. Said Rodger B. Dowdell Jr., APC’s CEO, “We experienced growth across all of our product lines and we are particularly proud of the 60% year- over-year revenue growth for InfraStruXure, our core NCPI solution. We are investing to re-architect our supply chain to drive higher levels of customer satisfaction and reduce product costs, while simultaneously investing in the start up of new product lines as well as new factories. While we are realizing some benefits of higher volume on our manufacturing costs, as well as leverage on our operating expenses, we are incurring additional costs to implement the improvements in our manufacturing and supply chain, which impacted our gross margin in the quarter.” The company also announced that its Board of Directors approved a stock repurchase program authorizing up to $200 million to repurchase outstanding shares of APC’s common stock. “The actions taken by our Board of Directors to authorize a stock buyback program demonstrate our confidence in APC’s future,” said Dowdell. Revenue for Q4 was a record $578.6 million, up from $510.8 million in the […]

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