BIC Group Announces More Than 20% Growth in Sales

BIC Group, Clichy, France, announced 9M 2010 net sales were 1,358.2 million euros, compared to 1,128.1 million euros in 9M 2009, up 20.4 percent as reported, up 13.4 percent at constant currencies and up 7.2 percent on a comparative basis. For the third quarter, net sales were 492.6 million euros, up 18.7 percent as reported, +8.7 percent at constant currencies and +9.6 percent on a comparative basis.

Total consumer business operations increased +8.8 percent at constant currencies during the 9M 2010 (+12.2 percent in Q3) while the advertisipng and romotional Products business increased +38.5 percent at constant currencies (including Antalis Promotional Products and Norwood Promotional Products) and decreased -2.1 percent on a comparative basis (-0.4percent in Q3).

9M 2010 foreign currency fluctuations had a positive impact of +7.0 percent on net sales, of which +2.8 percent was due to Latin American currencies (+2.2 percent for the Brazilian Real) and +2.3 percent to the increase of the U.S. dollar.

The 9M 2010 gross profit margin increased +0.6 pts at 47.3 percent of net sales. Favorable impacts in the consumer business (better volume absorption and savings related to 2009 cost reduction plan) were partly offset by the impact of the consolidation of Norwood Promotional Products and Antalis Promotional Products (lower gross profit margins). Both consumer and APP businesses gross profit margins are showing improvement in the third quarter 2010 vs. 2009.

Mario Guevara, chief executive officer, said, "We are proud to deliver these good nine months results, with a combination of strong sales growth, enhanced profitability and increased net cash position. BIC products continue to meet consumers' demand for both quality and price, allowing us to further gain market shares in both developed and developing markets. While we continued to invest in our brand to support sales growth, we increased normalized income from operations by almost 30 percent thanks to an ongoing focus on productivity."