Oil-Dri’s Branded Cat Litter Sales, Volume Drop

Oil-Dri Corp. of America, a Chicago-based manufacturer of cat litter and supplier of sorbent products, reported a decline in net sales and unit volume of its Cat's Pride brand of cat litter products for the second quarter ended Jan. 31.

The company attributed the decline primarily to Walmart's decision to reduce distribution of those products. The decline was partially offset by 34 percent unit growth of Cat's Pride Scoopable cat litter in Oil-Dri's grocery store partners, according to company.

Oil-Dri President and CEO Daniel Jaffe said in a statement released March 10 that Walmart has opted to reinstate the Cat's Pride Scoopable and Cat's Pride Complete cat litter products in a limited number of stores. He said customers will begin to see those products on store shelves during the third quarter.

"While the new store count overall remains materially reduced from our store count at the end of fiscal year 2009, we believe gaining these stores is recognition that Walmart shoppers are loyal to our Cat's Pride brand," Jaffe said.

Overall, Oil-Dri reported net income of $2.26 million on net sales of $54.7 million for the second quarter of 2010, compared to net income of $2.37 million on net sales of $59 million in the year-ago period.

For the first six months, the company reported net income of about $4.46 million on net sales of $108 million, compare to net income of $4.6 million on sales of $122 million in the year-ago period.