Helen of Troy F3Q06 (Qtr Ending Nov 30, 2005) Earnings Conference Call Transcript (HELE)

HELEN OF TROY, LTD.
Moderator: Gerald Rubin
January 9, 2006
10:00 a.m. CT

Operator:

Good morning and welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Helen of Troy third quarter earnings conference call fiscal 2006.

At this time, I would like to inform you that all participants are in a listen-only mode. At the request of the Company, we will open up the conference for questions and answers after the presentation.

Our speakers for this morning’s conference call are Gerald Rubin, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President; Christopher Carameros, Executive Vice President; Thomas Benson, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Robert Spear, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer.

I will now turn the call over to Robert Spear. Please go ahead, sir.

Robert Spear:

Good morning everyone and welcome to Helen of Troy’s third quarter earnings conference call for fiscal 2006.

The agenda for this morning’s conference call is as follows. We’ll have a brief forward-looking statement review, followed by Mr. Rubin, who will discuss our third quarter earnings release and related results of operations for Helen of Troy, followed by a financial review of our income statement and balance sheet for the quarter by Tom Benson, our Chief Financial Officer. And finally, we’ll open it up for questions and answers in a session for those of you with any further questions.

Safe Harbor statement. This conference call may contain certain forward-looking statements that
are based on management’s current expectation with respect to future events or financial performance. A number of risks or uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from historical or anticipated results.

Generally the words “anticipates,