EXHIBIT 99.1
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NEWELL RUBBERMAID INC. SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT
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 June 30, 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 2nd 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
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
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 price increases.
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 continue to
devote substantial 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 marketing our
end-user brands. Our objective is to become our retailer customers'
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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.
ACQUISITIONS AND 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, 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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