Helen of Troy Limited Announces Closing of Acquisition of the Pur Business From the Procter & Gamble Company

EL PASO, Texas, Jan. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ, NM:  HELE), designer, developer and worldwide marketer of brand-name personal care, healthcare, home environment and household consumer products, today announced the December 30, 2011 closing of its previously announced agreement to acquire the PUR® water purification products business ("PUR") from The Procter & Gamble Company ("P&G").

The PUR business sells and markets a variety of high-quality water filtration products under its namesake PUR brand in the growing water purification category.  PUR's products, which include faucet mount systems and filters, pitcher systems and filters, and refrigerator filters, are sold throughout the United States.  The acquisition does not include P&G's Children's Safe Drinking Water corporate philanthropy program. The powder product and patents used in that program will remain with P&G, who will transition that effort to the P&G corporate name.

Gerald J. Rubin, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, commenting on the acquisition's closing said, "We expect to quickly integrate the PUR brands into our Healthcare/Home Environment segment, where it is a natural fit.  The category shares the segment's current customer base, target audience, and product focus areas. PUR adds an important brand to our strong portfolio of well-recognized and widely-trusted brands for our retail partners and consumers, and is in line with our overall corporate strategy of adding businesses with value-added consumables, such as the proprietary filters that are important in this category. 

We expect that sales of the PUR brand will be approximately $110 million on an annual basis, and that the acquisition will be immediately accretive to earnings.  Our Healthcare/Home Environment segment sells branded health care devices such as thermometers, humidifiers and heating pads, and small domestic appliances such as air purifiers, portable heaters, fans, and bug zappers. Its brands include: Vicks®, Braun®, Honeywell®, Stinger® and SoftHeat® which are sold through mass merchandisers, home improvement stores, drugstore chains, warehouse clubs, catalogs, grocery stores, specialty stores and certain medical distributors."

About Helen of Troy Limited: Helen of Troy Limited is a leading global consumer products company offering creative solutions for its customers through a strong portfolio of well-recognized and widely-trusted brands, including: Housewares: OXO®, OXO Good Grips®, OXO Soft Works® and OXO Steel®; Personal  Care: Revlon®, Vidal Sassoon®, Dr. Scholl's®, Pro Beauty Tools®, Sure®, Pert Plus®, Infusium23®,  Brut®, Ammens®, Hot Tools® and Gold 'N Hot®; and Healthcare/Home Environment: Vicks®, Braun®, Honeywell®, PUR®, Stinger® and SoftHeat®. The Revlon® trademark is used under license from Revlon.  The Vidal Sassoon®, Vicks® and Braun® trademarks are used under license from The Procter & Gamble Company.  The Dr. Scholl's® trademark is used under license from Schering-Plough/Merck.  The Honeywell® trademark is used under license from Honeywell.  For more information, please visit www.hotus.com.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to change. The forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any or all of the forward-looking statements may turn out to be wrong. They can be affected by inaccurate assumptions or by known or unknown risks and uncertainties. Many of these factors will be important in determining the Company's actual future results. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Actual future results may vary materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by a number of risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical or anticipated results. Generally, the words "anticipates", "estimates", "believes", "expects", "plans", "may", "will", "should", "seeks", "project", "predict", "potential", "continue", "intends" and other similar words identify forward-looking statements. The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company intends its forward-looking statements to speak only as of the time of such statements, and does not undertake to update or revise them as more information becomes available. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release should be read in conjunction with, and are subject to and qualified by, the risks described in the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended February 28, 2011 and in our other filings with the SEC. Investors are urged to refer to the risk factors referred to above for a description of these risks. Such risks include, among others, the departure and recruitment of key personnel, the Company's ability to deliver products to our customers in a timely manner, the Company's projections of product demand, sales and net income are highly subjective and our future net sales revenue and net income could vary in a material amount from such projections, the Company's relationship with key customers and licensors, the costs of complying with the business demands and requirements of large sophisticated customers, the Company's dependence on foreign sources of supply and foreign manufacturing, the impact of changing costs of raw materials and energy on cost of goods sold and certain operating expenses, expectations regarding PUR and other acquisitions and the integration of PUR and other acquired businesses,  circumstances that may contribute to future impairment of goodwill, intangible or other long-lived assets, the risks associated with the use of trademarks licensed from third parties, our dependence on the strength of retail economies and vulnerabilities to an economic downturn, the Company's ability to develop and introduce innovative new products to meet changing consumer preferences, disruptions in U.S. and international credit markets, exchange rate risks, the Company's leverage and the constraints it may impose, the risks associated with tax audits and related disputes with taxing authorities, potential changes in laws, including tax laws, and the Company's ability to continue to avoid classification as a controlled foreign corporation.  

SOURCE Helen of Troy Limited

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