Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc., a Fortune 500 company, is an American diversified company. Its headquarters are located in Middleton, Wisconsin and was established in 2005 as the successor company to Rayovac Corporation. The company manufactures and markets home appliances under the Remington, Black & Decker, George Foreman, and Russell Hobbs brand names, lawn and garden care products under the Spectracide and Garden Safe brand names, and insect repellents under the Cutter and Repel brand names. Spectrum owns several pet care companies, both in the aquarium supply and companion animal trades. In the aquarium business, Spectrum owns Tetra, Whisper, Marineland, Perfecto, Jungle, Instant Ocean, Visi-Therm, and other product lines. Companion animal lines consist of Dingo, Nature's Miracle, Lazy Pet, Wonderbox, Furminator, IAMS, Eukanuba and others. Both aquarium lines and companion lines are concentrated into Spectrum's United Pet Group based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Spectrum's Hardware & Home Improvement division includes brands such as Kwikset, Baldwin, National Hardware, Pfister, and more. On February 26, 2018, the company announced it was merging with controlling shareholderHRG Group. As of 2018, Spectrum Brands is ranked #422 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. Spectrum manufactured and sold batteries under the Rayovac and Varta brand names, until it sold its battery division to long-time Rayovac competitor Energizer in January 2018. In November 2018, the company sold their global auto care division, to Energizer as well.
History
In 1906, the French Battery Company was founded in Chicago, by James Bowen Ramsay, with German born chemist Alfred Landau as its first president who had come to Chicago having learned the craft of battery-making in Europe. The Ramsay collective invested in Landau's functioning low profile Columbia Dry Battery Company which had been halted by copyright issues regarding the adopted name "Columbia". The re-started and re-named assembly plant soon relocated to Wisconsin where Landau's efforts to advance the French company too quickly, combined with a bad run of batteries, led to virtual bankruptcy and he was sacked. He moved on to Toronto, and set up a factory making X-Cell brand batteries for Canada. Ramsay, nor the other shareholders, knew how to make batteries but Ramsay's leadership kept the enterprise alive by having assembly line staff make the "Fleur de lis" branded batteries to a lower standard. Ramsay's fiery self-belief in the industry led him to contract a university chemist C.F. Burgess to concoct a battery to rival those made in America and Europe. Burgess actually succeeded to his own financial cost and the company survived with him becoming a shareholder, but after a fire destroyed the plant in 1915, he left to found his own successful battery company. French battery production accelerated through World War I, and by 1920, the French Battery Company had US$2.74 million in sales and 600 employees, and 1000 employees in 1931. In 1930, the company name was changed to Ray-O-Vac, an allusion to the then-new technology of vacuum tubes and electron rays. In 1933, the company patented the first wearable vacuum tubehearing aid. During World War II, Rayovac supplied the United States military with nearly 500 million batteries. As a result of this, they were awarded eight Army-Navy "E" awards for major contributions to victory. During its ownership by the parent company of ESB Industrials, a British subsidiary was established to manufacture and market batteries in the United Kingdom under the Ray-O-Vac name. This operation ceased in 1972; Ray-O-Vac batteries continued to be marketed, although they were manufactured by the British Ever Ready company. In 1988, the name was simplified to Rayovac.
Diversification and name change
In 2003, Rayovac decided to diversify, and acquired non-battery related businesses including Remington Products and United Pet Group. In 2004, Rayovac successfully underbid Energizer as RadioShack's battery supplier and produced the "Enercell" brand of battery sold exclusively at RadioShack. In January 2005, Rayovac purchased United Industries Corporation for about $476 million in cash and stock. Brands included in United Industries were Vigoro, Spectracide and Sta-Green lawn products, Cutter, Hot Shot and Repel insect control products and pet supply products with the Marineland, Perfecto, and Eight in One brands. In 2005, Tetra, a major provider of pet-fish products, was acquired. This diversification prompted the name change from Rayovac to Spectrum Brands. Rayovac also bought other battery companies including VARTA, Ningbo Baowang and Microlite S.A. The Microlite acquisition included the rights to the Rayovac name in Brazil, giving the company worldwide rights to the Rayovac name. With this acquisition, Rayovac consolidated its presence in the majority of countries in Latin America. Rayovac is a well recognized brand in this region. Heavily leveraged in debt, Spectrum attempted to sell its pet division containing aquarium products and supplies under the Tetra, Marineland, Instant Ocean and Jungle brand names, and pet care products under the Dingo, Firstrax, 8 in 1 and Nature's Miracles brand names. Appliance maker Salton, owned by hedge fund Harbinger Capital, agreed to pay approximately $692 million cash to purchase the pet care division, but the deal collapsed on July 14, 2008. According to Forbes and The Wall Street Journal, the sale was rejected by Spectrum's own key lenders, most likely because the deal valued the brands for less than what the bankers considered them to be worth. On February 3, 2009, Spectrum filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company later emerged from bankruptcy on August 28, 2009. Since emerging from Chapter 11, Spectrum has announced year-over-year increases in sales and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for the second quarter of their fiscal 2010. Rayovac, as a division of Spectrum Brands, remained headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, along with Remington, even while the parent company, Spectrum Brands, was headquartered in Georgia. On April 15, 2010, Spectrum Brands announced that it would be moving its corporate headquarters back to Madison. Spectrum Brands moved its headquarters to Middleton, Wisconsin, a suburb of Madison, in October 2013.
On April 28, 2015, Spectrum Brands entered the automotive supply business by acquiring Armored Auto group.
HRG Group
On January 16, 2018, the Rayovac division was bought by Energizer for $2 billion. On February 26, 2018, Spectrum Brands announced it was merging with controlling shareholder HRG Group, Inc. The move would not affect the pending sale of its battery division to Energizer. Spectrum management was expected to run the merged entity. The combined company is to be named Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. and trade under the ticker symbol SPB. The company will remain in Middleton.
Battery products
Rayovac manufactures alkaline batteries ranging in size from AAA to 9V, rechargeable nickel–metal hydride batteries, hearing aid batteries, lithium photo batteries, specialty batteries and portable power chargers. In addition, a variety of portable LED flashlights and lanterns are produced under the Rayovac brand.
