Helen of Troy Limited Announces New $500 Million Share Repurchase Authorization

Rhea-AI Summary

Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ: HELE) has authorized a $500 million share repurchase program, reflecting its commitment to return capital to shareholders. This move replaces an existing authorization with approximately $79.5 million remaining. The program is effective August 25, 2021, and may run for three years, targeting around 9% of the company’s shares. CEO Julien R. Mininberg emphasized the importance of balanced capital allocation for long-term shareholder value.

Positive

• Share repurchase authorization of $500 million indicates strong financial confidence.
• Repurchase represents approximately 9% of outstanding shares, enhancing shareholder value.

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• None.

EL PASO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ: HELE), designer, developer and worldwide marketer of consumer brand-name housewares, health and home, and beauty products, today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of $500 million of its outstanding common shares (“common stock” or “shares”) in keeping with its stated intention to opportunistically return to shareholders capital not otherwise deployed for core business growth or strategic acquisitions. The authorization was approved as part of the Board’s regular process of reviewing the Company’s capital allocation and existing authorization. It is effective August 25, 2021, for a period of three years, and replaces Helen of Troy’s existing repurchase authorization, of which approximately $79.5 million remained at the time the new authorization was approved.

Helen of Troy may purchase shares on a discretionary basis from time to time through open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions or other means, including through Rule 10b5-1 trading plans. The timing and amount of any transactions will be subject to the discretion of Helen of Troy and may be based upon market conditions as well as other opportunities that Helen of Troy may have for the use or investment of its capital. The repurchase program does not require the purchase of any minimum number of shares and may be implemented, modified, suspended or discontinued in whole or in part at any time without further notice.

In total, the $500 million share repurchase authorization represents approximately 9% of the Company’s outstanding common stock, based upon the Company’s closing price on August 25, 2021. As of August 25, 2021, Helen of Troy had approximately 24.1 million shares outstanding.

Julien R. Mininberg, Chief Executive Officer, stated: “A key element of our success in delivering significant long-term value creation for our shareholders has been our balanced capital allocation strategy. We believe the cash flow generation of our business, coupled with our strong financial position, will allow us to continue to reinvest in our value creation flywheel, while simultaneously making strategic acquisitions and opportunistically returning capital to shareholders. Today’s share repurchase authorization reaffirms the confidence from Helen of Troy’s management and Board in our long-term growth outlook, as well as our financial strength, as we continue to execute Phase II of our Transformation Plan.”

About Helen of Troy Limited

Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ: HELE) is a leading global consumer products company offering creative solutions for its customers through a diversified portfolio of well-recognized and widely-trusted brands, including OXO, Hydro Flask, Vicks, Braun, Honeywell, PUR, Hot Tools and Drybar. We sometimes refer to these brands as our Leadership Brands. All trademarks herein belong to Helen of Troy Limited (or its subsidiaries) and/or are used under license from their respective licensors.

For more information about Helen of Troy, please visit http://investor.helenoftroy.com

Forward Looking Statements

Certain written and oral statements made by the Company and subsidiaries of the Company may constitute “forward-looking statements” as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This includes statements made in this press release. Generally, the words “anticipates”, “believes”, “expects”, “plans”, “may”, “will”, “would”, “should”, “seeks”, “estimates”, “project”, “predict”, “potential”, “currently”, “continue”, “intends”, “outlook”, and other similar words identify forward-looking statements. All statements that address operating results, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will occur in the future, including statements related to sales, earnings per share results, and statements expressing general expectations about future operating results, are forward-looking statements and are based upon its current expectations and various assumptions. The Company believes there is a reasonable basis for these expectations and assumptions, but there can be no assurance that the Company will realize these expectations or that these assumptions will prove correct. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks that could cause them to differ materially from actual results. Accordingly, the Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release should be read in conjunction with, and are subject to and qualified by, the risks described in the Company’s Form 10-Q for the three months ended May 31, 2021, and in the Company's other filings with the SEC. Investors are urged to refer to the risk factors referred to above for a description of these risks. Such risks include, among others, the Company's ability to successfully manage the demand, supply, and operational challenges associated with the actual or perceived effects of COVID-19 and any similar future public health crisis, pandemic or epidemic, the Company's ability to deliver products to its customers in a timely manner and according to their fulfillment standards, actions taken by large customers that may adversely affect the Company's gross profit and operating results, the Company's dependence on the strength of retail economies and vulnerabilities to any prolonged economic downturn, including from the effects of COVID-19, the Company's dependence on sales to several large customers and the risks associated with any loss of, or substantial decline in, sales to top customers, expectations regarding recent acquisitions and any future acquisitions or divestitures, including the Company's ability to realize related synergies along with its ability to effectively integrate acquired businesses or disaggregate divested businesses, the Company's reliance on its Chief Executive Officer and a limited number of other key senior officers to operate its business, obsolescence or interruptions in the operation of the Company's central global Enterprise Resource Planning systems and other peripheral information systems, occurrence of cyber incidents or failure by the Company or its third-party service providers to maintain cybersecurity and the integrity of confidential internal or customer data, the Company's dependence on third-party manufacturers, most of which are located in the Asia Pacific market, and any inability to obtain products from such manufacturers, risks associated with weather conditions, the duration and severity of the cold and flu season and other related factors, the geographic concentration and peak season capacity of certain U.S. distribution facilities which increase its risk to disruptions that could affect the Company's ability to deliver products in a timely manner, risks associated with the use of licensed trademarks from or to third parties, the Company's ability to develop and introduce a continuing stream of innovative new products to meet changing consumer preferences, the risks associated with trade barriers, exchange controls, expropriations, and other risks associated with domestic and foreign operations, the risks associated with significant changes in or the Company's compliance with regulations, interpretations or product certification requirements, the risks associated with the Company's discussions with the EPA on the development and implementation of compliance plans related to certain of its products within the Health & Home segment, the risks associated with global legal developments regarding privacy and data security that could result in changes to its business practices, penalties, increased cost of operations, or otherwise harm the business, the risks associated with accounting for tax positions and the resolution of tax disputes, the risks of potential changes in laws and regulations, including environmental, health and safety and tax laws, and the costs and complexities of compliance with such laws, the Company's ability to continue to avoid classification as a Controlled Foreign Corporation, the risks associated with legislation enacted in Bermuda and Barbados in response to the European Union’s review of harmful tax competition, the risks of significant tariffs or other restrictions being placed on imports from China or Mexico or any retaliatory trade measures taken by China or Mexico, the risks associated with product recalls, product liability and other claims against the Company, and associated financial risks including but not limited to, significant impairment of the Company's goodwill, indefinite-lived and definite-lived intangible assets or other long-lived assets, risks associated with foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, increased costs of raw materials, energy and transportation, projections of product demand, sales and net income, which are highly subjective in nature, and from which future sales and net income could vary in a material amount, the risks to the Company's liquidity or cost of capital which may be materially adversely affected by constraints or changes in the capital and credit markets and limitations under its financing arrangements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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Investor Contact:

Helen of Troy Limited

Anne Rakunas, Director, External Communications

(915) 225-4841



ICR, Inc.

Allison Malkin, Partner

(203) 682-8200

Source: Helen of Troy Limited

FAQ

What is the purpose of Helen of Troy's $500 million share repurchase program?

The share repurchase program aims to return capital to shareholders that is not allocated for core business growth or strategic acquisitions.

When does the repurchase program for HELE take effect?

The repurchase program is effective as of August 25, 2021, and will last for three years.

How much of Helen of Troy's outstanding shares will the buyback represent?

The $500 million buyback program will represent approximately 9% of the company's outstanding shares.

What was the previous share repurchase authorization for HELE?

The previous authorization had approximately $79.5 million remaining before the new program was approved.