GAAP net income for the quarter of $58.3 million, or $1.02 per diluted share, compared with 2011 first quarter GAAP net income and E.P.S. of $55.8 million and $0.88 per share, respectively. Adjusted diluted earnings per share of $1.03 in the quarter was 13 cents, or 14%, better than 2011 in U.S. dollars, including a negative foreign currency impact of 6 cents. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange on the comparison, adjusted diluted earnings per share was up 19 cents, or 23%.
The Company repurchased for $50 million in the open market in the first quarter of 2012, 819 thousand shares, or 1.5% of 2011 year-end outstanding shares. Since 2007, the Company has repurchased 13 million shares for $678 million and can repurchase up to an additional $522 million of shares under its current authorization that runs until February 1, 2015. The Company expects to repurchase $25 million worth of shares in the second quarter of 2012.
Rick Goings, Chairman and CEO, commented, "I am pleased with our first quarter results including that we were able to beat the high end of our first quarter guidance range. Our emerging markets**, that generated 59% of sales in the quarter, were up 4% in dollars and 8% in local currency, and drove our overall increase as our established markets were down 3%. Taking into account the impact of the extra week on our 2011 numbers, on a run rate our emerging markets were up 14% and our established markets were up 1%++. This was in line with our longer term guidance. In particular, what gives us a high level of confidence in our future growth expectations are the solid businesses we have established in Asia and Latin America, and the rising middle class in each. According to a study done by the OECD, in Asia alone the number of people expected to rise out of poverty will swell the middle class by 2020 from just over 500 million today to 1.7 billion. These are people who want the earnings opportunity we offer and prestigious brands, like Tupperware. I'm also pleased that based on the confidence we have with our trends, we were able to maintain our full year E.P.S. outlook. In doing this, we expect to overcome incremental headwinds from foreign currencies, which are now forecast to hit us by 5 cents more than when we gave guidance on February 1st, and higher resin costs."
* Sales force statistics as collected by the Company and, in some cases, provided by distributors and sales force. The Company classifies Established Market Units as those operating in Western Europe, including Scandinavia, the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan and its remaining units as Emerging Market Units. Active Sales Force is defined as the average number of orders received per ordering cycle in each unit over the course of the quarter, and Total Sales Force is defined as the number of sales force members of the units as of the end of the quarter.
+ Local currency changes are measured by comparing current year results with those of the prior year translated at the current year's foreign exchange rates.
++ Includes the Company's assessment of the impact on the comparison of first quarter sales results of the 2011 quarter including the week between Christmas and New Year and the 2012 quarter, not including that week (defined as "run rate"). Given the level of customer orders in this time period, sales in this week are below average.
