Tupperware Q1 profit surges

   Osceola-based Tupperware Brands Corp.'s (TUP) first-quarter profit surged 84% as the personal-products maker posted higher sales and profit across nearly all of its businesses, the Wall Street Journal reported.
    A number of emerging markets posted double-digit sales increases during the quarter, Tupperware said, while established markets were even with last year in local currency. Shares climbed 3.1% to $49.85 in after-hours trading, as sales topped expectations.
    The company, best known for its namesake line of plastic storage containers, has been relatively untouched by the economic downturn, partly because most of its business comes from high-growth overseas markets and high unemployment has boosted its sales force, which is paid on commission.
    Tupperware posted a profit of $47.1 million, or 73 cents a share, up from $25.6 million, or 41 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding write-downs, earnings rose to 76 cents from 45 cents. Net sales jumped 20% to $557.1 million and grew 11% in local currency.
    In February, the company projected earnings of 55 cents to 60 cents on an 8% to 10% increase in sales, in local currency.
     Gross margin widened to 66.9% from 65.4%.
     Sales and profit grew across nearly all segments. In Europe, which provides more than a third of the company's revenue, sales and profit jumped 21% and 54%, respectively. In the North America, beauty segment, sales climbed 7%, although profit was flat.
      The company again lifted its 2010 earnings estimate, seeing a per-share profit of $3.68 to $3.78, up from its February view of $3.41 to $3.51. Tupperware's local currency sales outlook remains unchanged. For the second quarter, Tupperware sees earnings of 95 cents to $1, excluding items, on a 7% to 9% increase in sales in local currency. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters projected earnings of 93 cents and an 11% increase in total sales, to $580 million.