During the Oct. 9 conference call to announce Helen of Troy’s second-quarter fiscal 2015 results, CEO Julien Mininberg talked about the company’s long-term strategy.
“Our long-term strategy for both retail and professional appliances includes increased focus on innovation, based on in-depth consumer and competitive understanding,” Mininberg said, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript. “As new product development cycle tends to run 18 months from idea to shelf, this will take some time. It involves listening to what our consumers want in need, testing the new product ideas we have already generated, developing the products, ensuring their quality and then selling them into our customers in both the retail and the professional channels.
Helen of Troy Limited is a designer, developer, and global marketer of brand-name housewares, healthcare/home environment, nutritional supplement, and personal care consumer products.,
“In our Personal Care business, the multi-year downward trend has accelerated, particularly in the more commoditized parts of our appliance business,” Mininberg said. “This has been compounded by the slower store traffic and softer mass market retail sales reported by some of our largest retail customers. Despite the retail backdrop that has muted overall performance, we continue to advance in key elements of our business. I am very pleased with the progress executing our strategic priorities. In line with our first objective of building a winning organization and culture, the transformation work in our operations, shared service and in our Personal Care segments has progressed.”
Mininberg said the company is investing in its Healthcare and Home Environment segment, behind new product introductions, including new Braun thermometers for both the consumer and the professional market and new Honeywell air purifiers.
“We also have new advertising for pure water purification, new packaging and new products soon to launch,” he added. “We expect these and others will have a positive impact on our results in the second half of the fiscal year.”