About Newell Brands Inc

Newell Brands Inc. operates as a global consumer goods company. The company has a strong portfolio of well-known brands, including Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Graco, Coleman, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, Yankee Candle, Paper Mate, FoodSaver, Dymo, EXPO, Elmer’s, Oster, NUK, Spontex and Campingaz. The company focuses on delighting consumers by lighting up everyday moments. The company sells its products in over 150 countries around the world and has operations on the ground in over 40 of these countries, excluding third-party distributors. Business Strategy As part of its strategy, the company focuses on driving meaningful improvement in front-end capabilities, including consumer understanding, brand management, brand communications, innovation and go-to-market execution; disproportionately investing in the company’s largest and most profitable brands, fastest-growing channels and key geographies; turning the company’s scale into a competitive advantage, enabling cost savings that provide fuel for reinvestment; and transitioning to a high-performance organization as the company transforms its culture. The company is implementing this strategy while continuing to address key challenges such as shifting consumer preferences and behaviors; a highly competitive operating environment; a rapidly changing retail and consumer landscape; continued macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility; a soft macro backdrop; significant inflationary pressures on consumers and an evolving regulatory landscape. In January 2024, the company announced an organizational realignment, which is expected to strengthen its front-end commercial capabilities, such as consumer understanding and brand communication, in support of the where to play and how to win strategies the company unveiled in June of 2023. In addition to improving accountability, the company’s organizational realignment is designed to unlock operational efficiencies and cost savings, reduce complexity and free up funds for reinvestment. As part of the organizational realignment, the company is making several operating model changes, which entail: standing up a cross-functional brand management organization, realigning business unit finance to fully support the new global brand management model, further simplifying and standardizing regional go-to-market organizations, and centralizing domestic retail sales teams, the digital technology team, business-aligned accounting personnel, the Manufacturing Quality team, and the Human Resources functions into the appropriate center-led teams to drive standardization, efficiency and scale with a One Newell approach. In addition, the company continues to review its operating footprint and non-core brands, which will likely result in future restructuring charges. Segments The company operates through three segments, Home and Commercial Solutions; Learning and Development; and Outdoor and Recreation. Home and Commercial Solutions The Home and Commercial Solutions segment designs, manufactures, sources, markets and distributes a diverse line of household products, including kitchen appliances, food and home storage, fresh preserving, vacuum sealing, gourmet cookware, bakeware and cutlery and home fragrance products, as well as commercial cleaning and maintenance solutions products, closet and garage organization products, hygiene systems and material handling solutions. Kitchen appliances are primarily sold under the Crockpot, Mr. Coffee, Oster and Sunbeam brands. The company also has rights to sell various small appliances in substantially all of Europe under the Breville brand name. Food storage products are sold primarily under the FoodSaver, Rubbermaid and Sistema brands. Gourmet cookware, bakeware and cutlery are sold under the Calphalon brand. The company also sells certain home canning and food storage products under the Ball brand, pursuant to a license from Ball Corporation. Home fragrance products are sold primarily under the WoodWick and Yankee Candle brands. Commercial cleaning and maintenance solutions products are primarily sold under the Rubbermaid, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, Mapa and Spontex brands. The Home and Commercial Solutions segment primarily markets its products directly to mass merchants, warehouse clubs, home centers, department stores, drug/grocery stores, specialty retailers, discount stores, e-commerce retailers, commercial products distributors, select contract customers and other professional customers, as well as direct to consumers online and in Yankee Candle retail stores. Learning and Development The Learning and Development segment designs, manufactures, sources, markets, and distributes writing instruments, including markers and highlighters, pens and pencils; art products; activity-based products; labeling solutions; baby gear and infant care products. Writing instruments, activity-based products and labeling solutions products are sold primarily under the Dymo, Elmer’s, EXPO, Paper Mate, Parker and Sharpie brands. Baby gear and infant care products are sold primarily under the Graco and NUK brands. The Learning and Development segment primarily markets its products directly to mass merchants, warehouse clubs, drug/grocery stores, office superstores, office supply stores, contract stationers, distributors and e-commerce retailers, and direct to consumers online. Outdoor and Recreation The Outdoor and Recreation segment designs, manufactures, sources, markets and distributes global consumer active lifestyle products for outdoor and outdoor-related activities, including technical apparel and on-the-go beverageware. Active lifestyle products are sold primarily under the Campingaz, Coleman, Contigo, and Marmot brands. The Outdoor and Recreation segment primarily markets its products directly to warehouse clubs, department stores, grocery stores, mass merchants, sporting goods and specialty retailers, distributors and e-commerce retailers, as well as direct to consumers online. Seasonal Variations Sales of the company’s products tend to be seasonal, with sales, operating income and operating cash flow in the first quarter (year ended December 31, 2023) generally lower than any other quarter during the year, driven principally by reduced volume and the mix of products sold in the first quarter. The seasonality of the company’s sales volume combined with the accounting for fixed costs, such as depreciation, amortization, rent, personnel costs and interest expense, impacts the company’s results on a quarterly basis. In addition, the company tends to generate the majority of its operating cash flow in the third and fourth quarters of the year due to seasonal variations in operating results, the timing of annual performance-based compensation payments, customer program payments, working capital requirements and credit terms provided to customers. In addition, uncertainty still remains over the volatility and direction of future consumer and customer demand patterns, as well as inflationary pressures. Patents and Trademarks The company has many patents, trademarks, brand names and tradenames that are, in the aggregate, important to its business. The company’s most significant brands include Calphalon, Campingaz, Coleman, Contigo, Crockpot, Dymo, Elmer’s, EXPO, FoodSaver, Graco, Mapa, Marmot, Mr. Coffee, NUK, Oster, Paper Mate, Parker, Rubbermaid, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, Sharpie, Sistema, Spontex, Sunbeam, WoodWick and Yankee Candle. Customers The company’s principal customers are large mass merchandisers, discount stores, home centers, warehouse clubs, office superstores, direct-to-consumer channels, specialty retailers and wholesalers, commercial distributors and e-commerce retailers. The company markets its strong multi-product offering through virtually every category of high-volume retailers, including discount, drug, grocery and variety chains; warehouse clubs; department, hardware and specialty stores; home centers; office superstores; contract stationers; and e-commerce retailers. The company’s largest customer, Walmart Inc. and subsidiaries (Walmart), accounted for approximately 15% of net sales in 2023, Amazon, the company’s second largest customer, accounted for approximately 13% of net sales in each of 2023. The company’s top-ten customers in 2023 included in alphabetical order: Amazon, Costco, Kroger, Lowe’s, Office Depot, Staples, Target, The Home Depot, Uline and Walmart. Research and Development Costs The company’s research and development costs relating to both future and current products are charged to selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) as incurred. These costs totaled $117 million in 2023. History The company was founded in 1903. It was incorporated in 1987. The company was formerly known as Newell Rubbermaid Inc. and changed its name to Newell Brands Inc. in 2016.