Newell Rubbermaid has reported ‘strength in its writing business’ in its first quarter 2012 results.

The company sais that that its Consumer segment's net sales for the quarter were $639.6 million, a 2.6 percent decline compared with the prior year quarter.

Core sales in the segment decreased 2.0 percent driven by a decline in sales at the Décor business within the Home Organization & Style global business unit. Partially offsetting the decline was the impact of the European SAP pre-buy and strength in the writing businesses, the company said in a statement.

Commenting on the overall group performance, Michael Polk, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We're encouraged by the solid start to the year. We generated 5.2 percent core sales growth, normalized operating margin expansion, and nearly 14 percent normalized EPS improvement.”