国际英语新闻：Mattel's earnings up despite economic downturn

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- The world's biggest toymaker Mattel announced on Friday that its fourth-quarter earnings were up despite the economic downturn.

The fourth-quarter net income was 328.4 million dollars, or 89 cents per share, compared to 176.4 million dollars, or 49 cents per share in the previous fourth quarter, Mattel said in a statement.

Worldwide net sales for the quarter were up one percent from the previous year -- 1.96 billion dollars compared to 1.94 billion dollars, the statement said.

For the full year, the company reported net income of 528.7 million dollars, or 1.45 dollar per share, compared to 379.6 million dollars in 2008, or 1.04 per share, even though worldwide net sales in 2009 were down 8 percent -- 5.43 billion dollars compared to 5.92 billion dollars in 2008.

"Despite the challenging economic environment, we were pleased with the holiday performance of many of our classic and time- honored brands, including Barbie and Hot Wheels," said Mattel Chairman and Chief Executive office Robert A. Eckert.

Among its core brands, Barbie was down three percent in worldwide gross sales in 2009 while Fisher-Price declined six percent and Hot Wheels went up five percent. For the fourth quarter, Barbie sales were 12 percent higher, Hot Wheels 16 percent higher and Fisher-Price one percent higher. Gross sales of the company's American Girl line of toys were flat both for the year and the fourth quarter.

"In 2009, we improved execution across the company by realigning our infrastructure; controlling costs and expenses; tightly managing working capital; and reducing capital spending," Eckert said. "The result was improved profitability, a stronger balance sheet and increased cash flow."