Fortune Brands Looks to Expand Liquor, Home Portfolio
Source: Bloomberg
1/29/2010 3:51 PM

Fortune Brands Inc., the maker of Titleist golf balls, Moen faucets and Jim Beam bourbon, said it may make acquisitions in the spirits and home and security businesses. Fortune may expand its portfolio of liquor brands to include more rum and vodka, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bruce A. Carbonari, 54, said today on a conference call with analysts after the Deerfield-based company announced fourth-quarter earnings. Fortune sells Maker's Mark bourbon, Sauza tequila, Courvoisier Cognac and Canadian Club whiskey.
"We are very deep in bourbon, in tequila, but adding rum, adding more depth in vodka would be things that we would very interested in," Carbonari said.
Fortune bought the Effen premium vodka brand from Sazerac Co. last year and bought Cruzan International Inc., a rum maker, from Pernod-Ricard SA in 2008. Makers of home products could also be targets, Carbonari said. The company, which also makes Cobra clubs, doesn't anticipate golf acquisitions because of its "leading positions in that market," he said. "We are being very selective about what we're looking at," Carbonari said. "We fund organic growth because we have really strong brands," he said.

Cash, Sales
Fortune's cash and equivalents rose to $417.2 million as of Dec. 31 from $163.3 million a year earlier.
Clarkson Hine, a company spokesman, declined to comment on specific companies Fortune may be looking to acquire or offer a timeframe for any such announcements.
Sales climbed less than 1 percent in the fourth quarter, the company reported today. Fortune swung to a profit of 8 cents a share from a year earlier, when it recorded an impairment charge of $461.2 million. The company forecast full-year earnings for 2010 of as much as $2.30 a share, excluding some items. That trailed the $2.89 average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Fortune fell $1.81, or 4.2 percent, to $41.57 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. That's the steepest drop since October 2009. The shares rose 4.7 percent last year.