Fortune Brands sees 16 percent sales increase in 1Q

DEERFIELD - Fortune Brands Home & Security announced sales for the first quarter of 2016 were up 16 percent over the same period last year, boosted primarily by sales in its home products.

Sales for the quarter were $1.1 billion, while earnings per share were 35 cents, compared to 25 cents in the prior-year quarter. Operating income before charges/gains was $104.6 million, compared to $73.2 million the same quarter last year, up 43 percent.

"We drove strong sales and profit gains in the first quarter as the home products market continued to grow at the pace that we had planned and we remained focused on driving profitable growth in all channels," said Chris Klein, chief executive officer of Fortune Brands. "Based on our solid first quarter performance and recent share repurchases, we are increasing our full year EPS outlook."

The company's 2016 annual outlook continues to be based on a U.S. home products market growth assumption of 6 to 7 percent and an assumption of 5 to 6 percent growth for our total global market. Based on the company's expectation to continue outperforming the market and incremental sales from the Norcraft acquisition, it expects full-year 2016 sales growth in the range of 10 to 12 percent.