Fortune Brands Inc.--the conglomerate whose home products include such names as Moen faucets, Aristokraft and Kitchen Craft cabinets, Therma-Tru doors and Simonton wndows--announced today that the planned spin-off of its home and security unit into a separate company will take place after the close of business on Monday, Oct. 3.
Fortune Brand shareholders of record as of Sept. 20 will get a tax-free dividend representing one share of the spun-off company, which will be named Fortune Brands Home & Security, for each share of their stock in the old Fortune Brands, which will be re-named Beam and focus on its spirits business. Fortune Brands will get a cash dividend of $500 million from Fortune Brands Home & Security prior to the spin-off, the company added.
Fortune Brand Home & Security will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Oct. 4, under the ticker symbol FBHS.
"The separation of Fortune Brands' businesses will give shareholders a compelling opportunity to participate in the significant upside potential we see in both Beam and Fortune Brands Home & Security," Bruce Carbonari, chairman and chief executive officer of Fortune Brands said in a statement. "With their competitive, financial and organizational strengths, we believe each business is well positioned to continue outperforming in the marketplace and generate significant long-term value for shareholders."
On July 30, Deerfield, Ill.-based Fortune Brands declared that its home and security group's operating profit more than doubled to $82.6 million in the second quarter from $36 million in the year-earlier period on a 13.3% climb in net sales to $878.1 million. The group's gains benefited from "[market] share gains fueled by new products, new offerings across price points and expanded relationships with key customers," Carbonari said then. He also indicated at another point that some home products sales that might have occurred later this year were pulled into the second quarter as a result of consumers' desire to buy homes while tax benefits were still in effect.
