Helen of Troy Limited is an American publicly traded designer, developer and worldwide marketer of consumer brand-name housewares, health and home, and beauty products under owned and licensed brands. It is also the parent corporation of OXO International Ltd., Kaz, Inc., Steel Technologies, LLC, and Idelle Labs, Ltd, among others . The company is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, and its U.S. operations are headquartered in El Paso, Texas. The company is named after the historical or mythic figure Helen of Troy.
History
The company started as a wig store in Downtown El Paso in 1968, and expanded into the hair appliance business in 1975 by first supplying hair salons with hair dryers and curling irons. In 1980, the company's founder, Jerry Rubin, entered into a successful licensing agreement with Vidal Sassoon. Since then, the company's growth has come through years of acquiring rights to use well-known global brands in the health and home, housewares, beauty and nutritional supplements categories, or by acquiring brands and companies outright. Those transactions have made Helen of Troy a force in the personal-care products market. The company underwent a notable tax inversion when it reorganized into a Bermuda company in 1993. This inversion prompted new federal legislation tightening the rules on inversion, which are colloquially known as the "Helen of Troy Rules." In June 2004, the company paid $273.2 million for OXO International, a New York designer and maker of household tools. In January 2011, the company announced it has completed the acquisition of Kaz, Inc. for $271.5 million. Kaz provides health care and home environment consumer solutions including body thermometers, humidifiers, fans, and other products primarily under the Vicks, Braun and Honeywell brands, as well as products under owned brands like Stinger, Softheat, and Kaz. In January 2012, Kaz acquired the PUR water purification products business from The Procter & Gamble Company. In 2014, the company implemented its succession plan, with Jerry Rubin stepping down as CEO, and the appointment of Julien R. Mininberg as chief executive officer, effective March 1, 2014. Mr. Mininberg had served as chief executive officer and president of Helen of Troy's Healthcare/Home Environment segment. In March 2016, the company acquired Steel Technologies, LLC, which does business under the brand name Hydro Flask, for approximately $210 million in cash, subject to certain customary closing adjustments.
Company structure
Since that time, the company has grown organically and through acquisition and operates in three reportable business segments. The company divested its former Nutritional Supplements business in December, . By order of sales contribution, these are Health & Home, Housewares, and Beauty. Helen of Troy's sales were $1.49 billion in Fiscal Year 2018 . As of February 28, 2018, the company employed approximately 1,489 full-time employees worldwide. The company's US headquarters and Shared Services Center is in a unique northwest El Paso building, and the company has two distribution facilities in Olive Branch, Mississippi, and Southhaven, Mississippi. The company also has offices in Bend, Oregon, New York City, Mexico City, Mexico, Toronto, Canada, Sheffield, England, Lausanne, Switzerland, as well as in the Far East in Macau, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. The company contracts with unaffiliated manufacturers, primarily in China and Mexico, to manufacture a significant portion of its finished goods for the Beauty appliances and accessories, Housewares, Healthcare, Water Filtration, and Home Environment product categories. The North American region of the grooming, skin and hair care category of the Beauty segment source most of their products from U.S. manufacturers. For fiscal years 2018, 2017, and 2016, finished goods manufactured by vendors in the Far East comprised approximately 74%, 71%, and 70%, respectively, of total finished goods purchased.
Brands
Helen of Troy Limited, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, imports, markets, and distributes brand-name products in three reportable business segments: Health & Home, Housewares, and Beauty. The Health and Home segment offers healthcare and home comfort products including thermometers, blood pressure monitors and humidifiers, faucet mount water filtration systems and pitcher-based water filtration systems, air purifiers, heaters, fans, humidifiers and dehumidifiers under the PUR, Honeywell, Braun, and Vicks brands. The Housewares segment offers food and beverage preparation tools and gadgets, storage containers and organization products, household cleaning products, shower organization and bathroom accessories, feeding and drinking products, child seating, cleaning tools and nursery accessories, insulated water bottles, jugs, drinkware, travel mugs and food containers under the OXO, Good Grips, Hydro Flask, Soft Works, and OXO tot brands. The Beauty segment offers hair, facial and skin care appliances, grooming brushes, tools and decorative hair accessories, liquid hair styling, treatment and conditioning products, shampoos, skin care products, fragrances, deodorants and antiperspirants under the Hot Tools, Brut, Pert, Sure, Infusium 23, Revlon, and Bed Head brands.
