Armor All’s Financial Officer Quits in Surprise Move

Armor All Products Corp. said Wednesday that its chief financial officer resigned unexpectedly late last week and that the car-care products company is searching for a successor.

Mervyn J. McCulloch left “to pursue other interests,” spokeswoman Melanie D. Day said. She would not elaborate. She did say, though, that top executives were surprised by his decision to leave and that he departed on friendly terms.

“Mr. McCulloch has served the company well since joining Armor All in March, 1990,” Kenneth M. Evans, the company’s president, said in a prepared statement. “We wish him every success in his future endeavors.”

Wall Street didn’t blink. In light Nasdaq trading, the company’s stock closed at $21 a share, unchanged.

Some analysts, however, expressed surprise.

“This comes as a little bit of a shock to me,” said Scott Butler of Red Chip Review, a Portland, Ore., research firm. “One of the things the company always did well was manage its financials.”

Day, reassuring investors, said the company is still on track to post sales of about $200 million for its fiscal year ending March 31. Financial results for the third quarter, which ended Dec. 31, will be released in a few weeks, she said, and are not likely to contain any surprises.

Armor All, based in Aliso Viejo, is a supplier of automotive products such as protectants, cleaners and waxes, as well as home-care products.