52% Profit Gain at Armor All

Armor All Products Corp., the auto-care products company, reported a 52% jump in profit for its second quarter ended Sept. 30.

Armor All, based in Irvine, earned $4.4 million for the quarter. It earned $2.9 million for the same period a year earlier.

Sales were also up sharply, to $27.6 million from $18.9 million, a 46% increase.

Analysts and the company said about half of Armor All’s quarterly performance is attributable to a surge in buying before a previously announced 5% price increase that goes into effect Nov. 1.

For the 6 months, Armor All earned $10.8 million, a 33% increase from $8.1 million a year ago. Revenue rose 31%, to $62 million from $47.3 million.

Armor All sells its auto care products to 113,000 U.S. retailers, ranging from small hardware shops to such mass merchandising giants as K mart Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.