Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Joe Altobello of Oppenheimer.
Joe Altobello - Oppenheimer
First question is on the, the top line. This year you are down, I guess year-to-date about 2 or 3% or so. How much of that is business that you guys have chosen to walk away from?
Bill Brown
I haven't thought about a lot of business that we've chosen to walk away. There is some of it, but I think most of it is reflective of the economic climate and in particularly what's going on in the animal, and the vet, and professional pieces of the business.
Joe Altobello - Oppenheimer
Okay. So, it's more macro than anything you guys are doing internally?
Stu Booth
Joe. We've talked about SKU rationalization and the fact that we have 177,000 SKUs in our portfolio right now and one of the things we have been doing, as we've talked about before, systematically, going through our SKUs and limiting those SKUs that are not profitable or not showing as much margin as we'd like in terms of contribution and we've probably reduced our sales somewhere in the range of 15 to $20 million year-to-date related to SKU rationalization or discontinued items. But, as Bill said, the large measure of it is really the general economic condition, but that's just kind of an undercurrent that's working through this as well though.
Joe Altobello - Oppenheimer
Got it.
Bill Brown
Important thing is, we see ourselves either holding or increasing share. We do not see ourselves loosing share and we're strongly position to move forward from this.
Joe Altobello - Oppenheimer
Okay. Then in terms of the things you talked about earlier, Bill, about growing the brands, I think you are talking about more fiscal '10 and beyond. Could you sort of elaborate on what types of thing you are doing, whether that's promotion spending or increasing distribution?
Bill Brown
It's more a focus on, what are the leverage points around each brand, and what's the best way for that brand to move forward and grow? We have tremendous competitive strengths and those I enumerated on the deal with the brands, the positions they hold in the marketplace, the relationships with our retailers, our distribution network and we are looking at how to energize that even further, and most importantly, innovation, innovation, innovation and super commitment to quality. So, all of those points are going, and the strengthening of the kind of folks that we have working on branding and the branding initiatives is shifting in a very strong, positive way. That's an important element of our long-term growth.
- To read the full transcript on Seeking Alpha, click here »
