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, as well as in its Quarterly Report
on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2002, 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 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, the 1st Quarter 2002 Form
10-Q 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
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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
and events such as the terrorist attacks 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 struggle or fail, the Company must continuously monitor,
and adapt to changes in, the creditworthiness of its customers.
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 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
continue to devote substantial 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 continuously to improve our manufacturing
efficiencies and develop sources of supply on a world-wide basis.
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, especially in Europe (which is a focus of our
international growth) but also in 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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