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, 2001, and the documents incorporated
by reference therein 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,
impact of changes in accounting standards, 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 2001 Form 10-K and the
documents incorporated by reference therein 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
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
and events such as those of September 11, 2001. In recent years, the
consumer products retail industry in the U.S. and, increasingly,
elsewhere has been characterized by intense competition and
consolidation among both product suppliers and retailers. Because
such competition, particularly in weak retail economies, can cause
retailers to fail, the Company must continuously monitor, and adapt to
changes in, the creditworthiness of its customers.
NATURE OF THE MARKETPLACE
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 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
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
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.
PRODUCTIVITY AND STREAMLINING
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
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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 sources of supply on a world-wide basis.
The Company has within the last year added or promoted more than
60 executives. The Company's long-term success depends on its ability
to integrate these management changes.
ACQUISITION INTEGRATION
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
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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