Armor All Buys Line of Home Products : Growth: Move allows automotive goods firm to diversify and establish a home-care division.
Armor All Products Corp. stepped out of the car and into the home on Monday with the purchase of a line of products from a Tallahassee, Fla., company.
The company, Agri-Products Special Markets Inc., sold Armor All its E-Z D and E-Z Deck Wash brands. The products restore wood decks and home siding.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The purchase “establishes our new home-care division, providing us with an umbrella for future growth in non-automotive products,” said Kenneth M. Evans, president and chief executive officer of Armor All.
He added that a key growth strategy is to broaden the company’s line of consumer products.
Armor All’s move is a good one from an investor’s viewpoint, said Mark Matheson, an analyst with the Crowell, Weedon & Co. brokerage in Los Angeles. “I like it,” he said. “One of the things that held back their stock is they were seen as a one-category company. This will diversify their risk.”
It also allows the company to leverage its strength in the consumer advertising and marketing arenas, Matheson pointed out.
The company’s stock was up 75 cents in Nasdaq trading Monday, to close at $21.75 exchange--a 52-week high for Armor All.
E-Z Deck Wash is a leading manufacturer of exterior wood deck cleaning and restoring products, Armor All said, with a 65% market share. When applied to weathered, gray wood decks, fences and siding, E-Z Deck Wash cleans stains from mildew, algae and fungus while removing the grayness.
Other products include E-Z D brand cleaners: vinyl and stucco wash, pre-paint house wash, roof wash and aluminum wash. The products are sold in home centers, hardware stores and lumber and building material stores.
Armor All, which is best known for Armor All Protectant, also markets automotive waxes and polishes, carwash products and car cleaners, which are sold under the Armor All and Rain Dance brands.
During the first half of its 1994 fiscal year, Armor All reported profit of $9.5 million on revenue of $84 million.
Armor All Products
at a Glance
* Headquarters: Aliso Viejo
* President/CEO: Kenneth M. Evans
* Employees: 124
* Current products: Automobile protectant sprays, waxes and polishes marketed under the Armor All and Rain Dance brands.
* New products: E-Z Deck Wash, which cleans and restores wooden surfaces, and E-Z D, formulated for vinyl, stucco and aluminum surfaces.
Source: Armor All Products; Researched by JANICE L. JONES / Los Angeles Times
