Briggs & Stratton Corp. increased fiscal fourth quarter net sales to $496.8 million, a 4.1-percent increase compared to the previous year. Engine segment sales jumped 6.3 percent to $317.8 million. Fiscal 2014 fully year net sales were $1.86 billion, relatively flat year over year. Organic sales grew 4 percent excluding about $100 million in storm-related sales in the previous fiscal year, as well as some acquisition growth in that period.
“Despite a slower than normal start to the lawn-and-garden season this spring, we saw improved sales results for our engines and products due to the new innovative products launched this year and market share gains made within the large engine category,” said Todd Teske, chairman, president and CEO of Briggs & Stratton Corp. “In addition to higher sales, we saw margin expansion in our engines business even as we continued to invest in our future with new product launches and building out our international sales distribution in emerging regions.
“Within our Products segment, our new pressure washer product launches and our commercial lawn-and-garden business continued to perform well even as we saw reduced demand for generators in the U.S. following an uneventful storm season and lower pre-season snow thrower sales to our European customers due to a significantly below normal snow season in Europe last winter.”
For fiscal 2015, Briggs & Stratton project net sales in the range of $1.88 billion to $1.94 billion, with net income in the range of $50 million to $60 million, not including the impact of its acquisition of Allmand Bros., announced this week.
