EXHIBIT 99
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NEWELL RUBBERMAID INC. SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT
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The Company has made statements in its Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2000, and the documents incorporated
by reference therein, as well as in its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q
for the quarters ended March 31, 2001 and June 30, 2001, that
constitute forward-looking statements, as defined by the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject
to risks and uncertainties. The statements relate to, and other
forward-looking statements that may be made by the Company may relate
to, information or assumptions about sales, income, earnings per
share, return on equity, return on invested capital, capital
expenditures, working capital, dividends, capital structure, free cash
flow, debt to capitalization ratios, interest rates, internal growth
rates, Euro conversion plans and related risks, pending legal
proceedings and claims (including environmental matters), future
economic performance, operating income improvements, synergies,
management's plans, goals and objectives for future operations and
growth. These statements generally are accompanied by words such as
"intend," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "project," "target,"
"expect," "should" or similar statements. You should understand that
forward-looking statements are not guarantees since there are inherent
difficulties in predicting future results. Actual results could
differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-
looking statements. The factors that are discussed below, as well as
the matters that are set forth generally in the 2000 Form 10-K and the
documents incorporated by reference therein and in the 2001 Forms 10-
Q, could cause actual results to differ. Some of these factors are
described as criteria for success. Our failure to achieve, or limited
success in achieving, these objectives could result in actual results
differing materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-
looking statements. In addition, there can be no assurance that we
have correctly identified and assessed all of the factors affecting
the Company or that the publicly available and other information we
receive with respect to these factors is complete or correct.
Retail Economy
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Our business depends on the strength of the retail economies in
various parts of the world, primarily in North America and to a lesser
extent Europe, Central and South America and Asia.
These retail economies are affected primarily by such factors as
consumer demand and the condition of the consumer products retail
industry, which, in turn, are affected by general economic conditions.
In recent years, the consumer products retail industry in the U.S.
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and, increasingly, elsewhere has been characterized by intense
competition and consolidation among both product suppliers and
retailers.
Nature of the Marketplace
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We compete with numerous other manufacturers and distributors of
consumer products, many of which are large and well-established. Our
principal customers are large mass merchandisers, such as discount
stores, home centers, warehouse clubs and office superstores. The
rapid growth of these large mass merchandisers, together with changes
in consumer shopping patterns, have contributed to the formation of
dominant multi-category retailers, many of which have strong
bargaining power with suppliers. This environment significantly
limits our ability to recover cost increases through selling prices.
Other trends among retailers are to foster high levels of competition
among suppliers, to demand that manufacturers supply innovative new
products and to require suppliers to maintain or reduce product prices
and deliver products with shorter lead times. Another trend is for
retailers to import generic products directly from foreign sources.
The combination of these market influences has created an
intensely competitive environment in which our principal customers
continuously evaluate which product suppliers to use, resulting in
pricing pressures and the need for strong end-user brands, the
continuing introduction of innovative new products and constant
improvements in customer service.
New Product Development
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Our long-term success in this competitive retail environment
depends on our consistent ability to develop innovative new products
that create consumer demand for our products. Although many of our
businesses have had notable success in developing new products, we
need to improve our new product development capability. There are
numerous uncertainties inherent in successfully developing and
introducing innovative new products on a consistent basis.
Marketing
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Our competitive success also depends increasingly on our ability
to develop, maintain and strengthen our end-user brands so that our
retailer customers will need our products to meet consumer demand.
Our success also requires increased focus on serving our largest
customers through key account management efforts. We will need to
devote more marketing resources to achieving these objectives.
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Productivity and Streamlining
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Our success also depends on our ability to improve productivity
and streamline operations to control and reduce costs. We need to do
this while maintaining consistently high customer service levels and
making substantial investments in new product development and in
marketing our end-user brands. Our objective is to become our
retailer customers' low-cost provider and global supplier of choice.
To do this, we will need to continuously improve our manufacturing
efficiencies and develop alternative sources of supply on a world-wide
basis.
The Company has recently added or promoted more than 60
executives. The Company's long-term success depends on its ability to
integrate these management changes.
Acquisition Integration
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The acquisition of companies that sell name-brand, staple
consumer product lines to volume purchasers has historically been one
of the foundations of our growth strategy. Over time, our ability to
continue to make sufficient strategic acquisitions at reasonable
prices and to integrate the acquired businesses successfully,
obtaining anticipated cost savings and operating income improvements
within a reasonable period of time, will be important factors in our
future growth.
Foreign Operations
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Foreign operations, which include manufacturing and/or sourcing
in many countries in Europe, Asia, Central and South America and
Canada, are increasingly important to our business. Foreign
operations can be affected by factors such as currency devaluation,
other currency fluctuations and the Euro currency conversion, tariffs,
nationalization, exchange controls, interest rates, limitations on
foreign investment in local business and other political, economic and
regulatory risks and difficulties.
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