Oct 31 2009
CLARCOR Inc. (NYSE: CLC). As previously announced in CLARCOR Inc.’s third quarter press release, the Company’s CLC Air subsidiary has been engaged in a 4 month pilot program with a major retail customer to sell high-end Purolator branded residential HVAC filters in the southeastern United States.
Despite earlier indications to the contrary, this retailer recently notified the Company of its decision to discontinue the program and remain with its current supplier for the foreseeable future. While this decision will effectively end the pilot program, CLC Air continues to market its high-end Purolator filters to other retailers around the country. The anticipated discontinuation of the pilot program does not impact the Company’s most recently issued 2009 earnings guidance.
Purolator HVAC Filters
CLARCOR’s CEO Norm Johnson said, “While we would have loved to continue the program, we take a lot of positives away from this project. In four months, we went from not having a high-end retail line at all to achieving near 100% fill rates of outstanding products for one of the largest retailers in the country. Without any meaningful promotional support or activity, we believe we were able to sell on par with the long-term market leader in this product category.
“Our team did a terrific job in all aspects of this project, and nothing we learned over the past four months changes our view that we have a winning combination of product, packaging and price. We are as excited about the retail marketplace as ever.
“Although we would have loved to hit a home run out of the box, the fact is that we are just beginning our retail efforts. We’re actively pursuing the high-end retail marketplace and developing new and exciting residential HVAC products. We are confident that retailers looking for increased margins will work with us in light of our complete line of world-class products, including what we believe is the highest performing residential HVAC filter in the retail marketplace, our well-known Purolator brand name, and our demonstrated ability to supply a large scale retailer at highly competitive prices.”
Source: http://www.clarcor.com/