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OAKLAND, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/01/13 -- The Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX) today reported results for its fiscal third quarter, which ended March 31, 2013. The company reported a 1 percent increase in sales and a 2 percent decrease in diluted earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations versus the year-ago quarter.

"We grew sales 1 percent on top of strong 7 percent sales growth in the year-ago quarter," said Chairman and CEO Don Knauss. "In addition to a challenging year-over-year comparison, the U.S. had the coldest March weather in more than 10 years, which led to double-digit volume and sales declines in our Charcoal business. In addition, declining currencies in Argentina and Venezuela also affected our sales results. Excluding the impact of these headwinds, total company sales grew 3 percent, with solid increases in most of our U.S. businesses and growth in most of our International business."

Said Knauss, "Looking at the full fiscal year, I'm confident in the plans we have in place to deliver our earnings outlook, including increasing investments in demand-building programs, delivering meaningful product innovation and improving productivity across our operations."

All results in this press release are on a continuing operations basis unless otherwise indicated. Some information in this press release is reported on a non-GAAP basis. See "Non-GAAP Financial Information" below and the tables toward the end of this press release for more information and a reconciliation of key third-quarter results.

Fiscal Third-Quarter Results
Following is a summary of key third-quarter results. All comparisons are with the third quarter of fiscal year 2012, unless otherwise stated.

•$1.00 diluted earnings per share (2 percent decline) •Flat volume •1% sales growth

Clorox reported third-quarter earnings of $134 million, or $1.00 diluted EPS. This compares with $134 million, or $1.02 diluted EPS, in the year-ago quarter. Current-quarter results reflect a negative impact of 6 cents diluted EPS driven by double-digit declines in charcoal volume and sales due to unfavorable weather conditions, as well as a negative impact of 5 cents diluted EPS from unfavorable foreign currency exchange rates. An increase in advertising and sales promotion and a higher effective tax rate versus the year-ago quarter also impacted the company's results. These factors were partially offset by the benefit of strong cost savings and price increases, as well as lower selling and administrative expenses, primarily driven by lower spending for the company's information technology (IT) systems implementation in Latin America and lower employee incentive compensation costs.

Volume for the third quarter of fiscal 2013 was flat. Sales grew 1 percent primarily due to the benefit of price increases, with growth in three out of four reportable segments. Lower charcoal volume reduced third-quarter sales by 1.5 percentage points. Sales were also impacted by nearly 1 percentage point from unfavorable foreign currency exchange rates. Excluding these factors, total company sales grew 3 percent in the third quarter.