Newell Brands announced its fourth quarter and full year 2024 financial results. For Q4 2024, net sales were $1.9 billion, a 6.1% decline year-over-year, with core sales decreasing by 3.0%. Normalized gross margin expanded by 430 basis points to 34.6%, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year improvement.
Normalized operating income for the fourth quarter was $139 million, or 7.1% of sales, compared to $133 million, or 6.4% of sales, in the prior year period. Normalized diluted EPS was $0.16, compared to $0.18 in Q4 2023.
For the full year 2024, net sales were $7.6 billion, a 6.8% decline from the prior year, with core sales down 3.4%. Normalized gross margin reached 34.1%, a 460 basis point improvement from 2023. Normalized operating income was $618 million, or 8.2% of sales, up from $499 million, or 6.1% of sales, in 2023.
Full year 2024 normalized diluted EPS was $0.68, compared to $0.67 in the prior year. The company generated $496 million in operating cash flow for the full year. Newell Brands also successfully refinanced $1.25 billion of debt during the fourth quarter.
Newell Brands initiated its preliminary outlook for the first quarter 2025, projecting a net sales decline of 8% to 5% and a core sales decline of 4% to 2%. The company anticipates a normalized diluted EPS loss of ($0.09) to ($0.06) for Q1 2025.
For the full year 2025, the preliminary outlook includes a net sales decline of 4% to 2% and core sales ranging from a 2% decline to a 1% increase. Normalized operating margin is expected to be 9.0% to 9.5%, with normalized diluted EPS projected between $0.70 and $0.76. The company also stated its intention to reduce China imports to below 10% of total cost of goods sold by the end of 2025, down from 15% in 2024.
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