Briggs & Stratton Q1 Loss Narrows; Boosts FY15 Outlook

(RTTNews) - Briggs & Stratton Corp. (BGG) reported a net loss for the first quarter of $15.3 million or $0.34 per share, compared to a net loss of $19.3 million or $0.41 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Excluding items, adjusted net loss for the first quarter was $9.3 million or $0.21 per share, compared to an adjusted net loss of $16.5 million or $0.35 per share in the prior year quarter.

Net sales for the first quarter fell 7.8% to $292.6 million, mainly due to lower sales of engines resulting from higher channel inventories in North America and lower sales of engines for snow thrower OEM customers in Europe due to adequate inventories following last season.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report a loss of $0.38 per share on revenue of $316.18 million for the first quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

The company raised its fiscal 2015 outlook to include the Allmand Bros., Inc. acquisition. Previously, the company expected fiscal 2015 net income to be in a range of $50 million to $60 million or $1.07 to $1.27 per share. The company now estimates fiscal 2015 net income to be in a range of $53 million to $63 million or $1.14 to $1.35 per share prior to the impact of acquisition expenses, additional share repurchases, or costs related to restructuring actions.

The company also raised its net sales outlook for fiscal 2015 to be in a range of $1.94 billion to $2.0 billion from its prior outlook of $1.88 billion to $1.94 billion.

Analysts currently expect the company to earn $1.12 per share on revenue of $1.91 billion for the fiscal year 2015.