New Mattel Chief Promises ‘Urgency’ After Weak Earnings Report

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Mattel Inc.’s Interim Chief Executive Christopher Sinclair told investors Friday the El Segundo toymaker will make needed changes “with a heightened sense of urgency” as the company reported weak sales and earnings for the final quarter of last year.

“We are disappointed with our results,” Sinclair said. “Over the next few months, I will be focused on working with the management team to thoroughly evaluate the business in order to identify how we can improve our top-line performance and drive profitability.”

Mattel’s Friday earnings were in line with preliminary figures reported Monday, the same day the board of directors replaced former chief executive Bryan Stockton with Sinclair, a longtime board member.

For the fourth quarter, net income was $150 million (44 cents a share), a 60 percent drop from last year’s fourth quarter net income of $369 million ($1.07 a share). Sales of $1.99 billion for the quarter were down 6 percent from the same period last year. For Mattel’s core brands, sales of Barbie fell 12 percent, Fisher-Price brand sales dropped 11 percent and American Girl sales fell 4 percent over the same period in 2013. Hot Wheels’ sales climbed 5 percent.

For the full year, the company reported net income of $499 million ($1.45 a share), down 45 percent from 2013, when net income hit $904 million ($2.58 a share). Sales for the year slid 7 percent to $6 billion.

After a slight climb earlier in the day, Mattel shares were flat at $26.90 at the close of trading on Friday.

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