Flip Side of Lawn Mower Lawsuit: Briggs & Stratton Earnings

April 22nd, 2010. By AbiK

A few of you had commented on the Lawn Mower Class Action settlement post about the impact that the settlement would have on the companies (defendants) involved, including engine maker Briggs & Stratton.

Today, Briggs & Stratton reported fiscal third quarter earnings, and—no surprise—the company said earnings were down due to the lawsuit. Five percent down, according to AP. Briggs & Stratton earned $24.1 million, down from $25.4 million a year ago. The company reported it would have earned 85 cents per share had it not been for the lawsuit; rather, it reported 48 cents per share, down from 51 cents per share a year earlier.

According to Briggs & Stratton, revenue rose 3 percent to $694.6 million from $673.8 million a year ago. The increase was attributed to engine shipments rising 6 percent over 3Q 2009—but the company stated the increase was offset by lower average prices.

Now, although this was a consumer fraud lawsuit and Briggs & Stratton admitted no wrongdoing, they did settle 65 class action horsepower-related lawsuits in February, agreeing to pay $31 million along with agreeing to change how they would label the horsepower of their engines for the next ten years. (And of course, the rest of the lawn mower settlement details you can read about over at the initial story we posted.)

Though 3Q earnings were down, the company stated that it would have earned 85 cents per share without the lawn mower lawsuit settlement. The reason for this was rising engine sales, particularly in the lawn and garden market.

According to AP, the adjusted earnings exceeded Wall Street expectations where analysts had expected 67 cents per share.

The postscript: Briggs & Stratton was up 35 cents (1.6 percent) to $22.21 in reports on afternoon trading.

Tags: Briggs & Stratton, Lawn Mower, Lawn Mower Class Action

This was posted on Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 at 3:38 pm and is filed under Consumer Fraud, Settlement . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.