Sunbeam 2011 Annual Report Download - page 6

As Jarden enters a new decade in 2012, we are
proud of our past and equally enthusiastic about
our future. Every year our new product pipeline
has gotten stronger and more exciting and 2012 is
no exception. Additionally, every year brings the
opportunity to celebrate a landmark anniversary
for one or more of our portfolio of iconic brands.
In 2011 this included Crockpot’s 4Oth anniversary
and Diamond’s 130th anniversary, and in 2012 we
will celebrate K2’s 50th anniversary and Rawlings’
125th anniversary. One of the most pleasing
elements about celebrating these milestones is
that, in our view, the outlook for these brands has
never been stronger. Our brands receive numerous
industry awards every year and we appreciate this
recognition from our suppliers, customers and the
trade. We post details of many of these awards
on the Investor Relations section of our corporate
website, which we would encourage you to visit to
learn more about the innovation behind our brands
and new product launches.
One of Jarden’s key strengths today is its
diversification. We are the largest sporting hard
goods company in the world, a major player in
the small appliances market in the Americas, and
a leader in several other niche domestic markets
such as infant care, food preservation and home
safety. By focusing on achieving diversification
across our brands, product lines, distribution and
supply chain, we have created natural hedges that
have allowed us to build Jarden into not only a
larger, but also a far stronger company. In line with
a strand from Jarden’s DNA, “strive to be better”,
we believe we can continue to profitably build on
these platforms in the future.
Over the last decade, we have relied on three
primary drivers to deliver consistent, profitable
growth for our shareholders. First, optimizing the
performance of our existing businesses; second,
pursing a disciplined, opportunistic acquisition
strategy; and third, effectively managing our
capital structure.
In this period of time, we have built a robust
operating platform that has allowed us to deliver
improved performance and predictable financial
results with accurate and insightful visibility into
our operations and the drivers that influence
results. We continuously look to optimize our
current network of 61 manufacturing plants and
59 distribution and warehousing facilities across
28 countries. We have nurtured a culture in which
the size of our corporate headquarters and its
expense are held to a minimum. Our considerable
investment in information technology has allowed
us to leverage the efficiency of our infrastructure
as well as provide more timely, relevant information
to our management teams. Jarden’s corporate
offices exist to serve and enhance our operating
businesses, and this philosophy has helped us
recruit and retain some of the best talent available
throughout Jarden’s management ranks. Having
increased brand investment in the last four years
to a level of approximately 5% of sales in 2011
from 4.5% in 2008, our goal is to deliver gross
margin expansion of 50 basis points per year, while
maintaining brand investment levels to help drive
future revenue growth at our target long-term
average rate of 3-5% per annum.
In regards to our capital structure, 2011 was an
active year. During the first quarter, we completed
an attractive refinancing of our $1.3 billion senior
secured credit facility and we returned to the
capital markets in the first quarter of 2012 on an
opportunistic basis to add to this facility. We have
consciously maintained a conservative position,
in terms of both the long-term maturity profile of
our debt and the level of fixed versus floating rate
debt, at some expense to short-term profits. We
believe that the strength of our balance sheet is
an important indicator of the strength of Jarden’s
overall business, and our expected ability to satisfy
debt maturities over the next five years using our
free cash flow is a signal of this.
“Over the last decade, we have relied on three primary drivers to deliver
consistent, profitable growth for our shareholders. First, optimizing the
performance of our existing businesses; second, pursing a disciplined,
opportunistic acquisition strategy; and third, effectively managing our
capital structure.”
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