Mattel revealed that they registered an unexpected sales slump in the first quarter of the year, as a lot of U.S. and Europe-based retailers were left with too much inventory after the holiday shopping season.
However, according to Fortune, the company’s new CEO, Margo Georgiadis, declared that she’s optimistic about the upcoming period, revealing that Mattel managed to address most of the inventory issues, even though their attempt of lessening the inventory from the holiday season took more than expected.
Disappointing results, but the optimism is present
“As you can imagine, we view our first quarter results as disappointing and not reflective of what Mattel can deliver,” she added.
Mattel registered a 15% drop in net sales, to a total of $735.6 million, while the per-share loss was 32 cents on an adjusted basis, says the above-mentioned source. As for Wall Street’s predictions, a total revenue of $790.5 million, on a per-share loss of 18 cents was expected. Finally, Mattel’s stock dropped by 6.5% in after-hours trading, after the results were announced.
Despite the rough start they had to deal with this year, as the first quarter is always the lightest, in terms of sales, especially for toy makers like Mattel, Margo Georgiadis believes that the numbers will significantly improve in the second half of the year.
Disney’s Cars 3, a potential goldmine
To be more specific, the company should get a lot of help from their upcoming toy lines, coinciding with the launch of Disney’s Cars 3, a franchise which has always generated impressive sales. And this year, Mattel is looking forward to revenues around $300 million from this property alone! But this isn’t the only important revenue source…
“We are confident in both the product line and the enhancements we’ve made with Barbie, Fisher-Price and Hot Wheels,” CEO Georgiadis said. “There is a lot of competition in preschool and we have to really challenge ourselves in how to differentiate in a crowded market,” she added, while talking about Thomas the Tank Engine, another top brand of the company.
