US consumer goods manufacturer Newell Brands (Hoboken, New Jersey; www.newellbrands.com) earned USD 1.8 bn (EUR 1.65 bn) in the first quarter, 24.4% less than in the same period last year. The operating result also plummeted to a shortfall of USD 36 mn from a plus of USD 217 mn in Q1 2022. The net loss of 102 mn followed a profit of USD 228 mn.

The core area, Home and Commercial Solutions, was hit particularly hard, as was the business segment with outdoor and leisure products. At the same time, net debt continued grew to almost USD 5.4 bn.

The downward slide, however, is likely not over yet. The management around the current president and CEO-designate Chris Peterson (56) – who has been tapped to take over from Ravi Saligram – said he expects a further decline in turnover of 12% to 16% in the second quarter. This, too, is expected to come largely from the core business.

For the full year, the outlook is not much better. Although the board is sticking to the previously published revenue range of USD 8.4 bn to USD 8.6 bn, that would be an average decline of a good 10% compared to 2022. CFO Mark Erceg, however, said the company will end up at the lower end. The operating result is stated at around USD 1 per share, which would be about USD 400 mn for 413.9 mn shares after USD 312 mn in the previous year.

Related: Newell Brands to divest packaging manufacturer Waddington

In view of developments so far – and despite the Phoenix savings programme initiated under Saligram – it also seems possible that Newell could well miss these targets. To date, the programme has cost more money than it has saved , but it should be fully implemented by the end of 2023 and includes job cuts of 13% of the 32,000 employees.

On the other hand, the household goods manufacturer is still doing a little better than US competitor Tupperware (Orlando, Florida; www.tupperware.com), which is struggling with accounting errors and announced a delay to the release of its 2022 annual report.