Yahoo Finance Clorox Cyberattack Recovery Stalls, Pushing Outlook Down
(Bloomberg) -- Clorox Co. lowered its sales forecast for the year after reporting a surprise drop in shipment volumes, as the bleach maker’s recovery from last year’s cyberattack shows signs of stalling.
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Revenue and organic sales are expected to be at the low end of the company’s previously given forecasts in the current fiscal year, Clorox said Tuesday. Meanwhile, the volume of goods shipped to stores declined in the three months ended March 31, while analysts had predicted a 1.6% gain, according to data from Bloomberg. Organic sales also lagged behind projections.
While Clorox has been able to restock most inventory and regain much of its lost distribution, certain categories, including Glad bags and cat litter, have taken longer to rebound from the hack that took the company’s systems offline last year. Clorox says it has restored nearly 90% of its cyberattack-related losses in market share. In February, the maker of Pine-Sol cleaners said it had recovered 80% of lost households, and 86% of lost distribution points.
“Progress is impacted by supply and retailer shelf-reset timing,” a spokeswoman said in an email. Clorox says it will fully restore lost distribution by the end of the current quarter.
The shares fell 7.6% at 9:55 a.m. in New York, the biggest intraday drop since October. Through Tuesday’s close, Clorox had gained 3.7% so far this year, while the S&P 500 Index climbed 5.6%.
The drop in volumes may also show how shoppers are pulling back from essentials as inflation pressures persist across the US. Clorox’s gross margin beat analysts’ estimates, helped by higher prices along with certain cost savings. Competitors including Procter & Gamble Co. have also been raising prices, which were 3% higher in P&G’s latest quarter compared with last year.
(Updates with company comment in fourth paragraph, shares in fifth paragraph.)
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