Lifetime Brands reports sales up, but quarterly loss

Sales rose at Garden City-based Lifetime Brands Inc. during the second quarter, the company reported Thursday, but it swung to a loss in the period from a profit a year earlier.

The kitchenware and home goods company said revenue for the three months ending June 30 was about $97 million, a 2.2 percent increase from $94.9 million for the same period in the previous year. Inclusion of sales from Fred & Friends, a maker of novelty housewares and kitchen tools acquired by Lifetime in December, helped boost sales.

Despite the sales increase, Lifetime reported a loss of $568,000 or 4 cents per diluted share, compared with earnings of $559,000 a year earlier. The increase in sales was not enough to offset the additional selling, general and administrative expenses from the Fred & Friends acquisition and the shift of shipments and promotions for large retailers to the second half of the year.

Lifetime's sales volume typically is much smaller in the first two quarters of the year, so fluctuations in the timing of promotions for big retailers such as Sam's Club and Costco can have a significant impact on quarterly results, said Lifetime chief executive Jeffrey Siegel.

"This year those promotions are falling in the third and fourth quarters," Siegel said in an interview. He added, "We run the business to make a profit on an annual basis. We don't run the business on a quarterly basis."

The company's outlook for the third and fourth quarters remained positive, Siegel said, pointing to a "healthy order flow" driven by an improving U.S. economy, new products, strong promotional activity and the inclusion of sales from Fred & Friends.

The company now expects net sales for the year to increase by 5 to 7 percent.