Deerfield, Ill.-based Fortune Brands Home & Security reported mix results for the fourth quarter.

The company posted net sales of $876 million, up 4% from the prior-year quarter. Net income was a loss of $68.4 million, compared with earnings of $11.2 million in the same quarter last year.

Fortune Brands Home & Security, a unit of Fortune Brands, has appointed E. Lee Wyatt as senior VP and chief financial officer. He was most recently executive VP and chief financial officer at HanesBrands.

Deerfield, Ill.-based Fortune Brands announced that its Fortune Brands Home & Security business has filed an initial Form 10 Registration Statement with the Securities & Exchange Commission in connection with its proposed spinoff from Fortune Brands.  

The spinoff is part of the company’s proposed plan to separate its three businesses by spinning off Home & Security in a tax-free transaction, selling or spinning off its Acushnet golf business, and remaining a pure-play spirits company to be named Beam. 

Pointing to strength across all of its major businesses, Fortune Brands posted fourth-quarter sales of $1.90 billion, up 5% from the prior-year quarter, with the home and security division up 2%. Net income was $85.4 million, compared with $11.5 million in the prior year.

"Our determination to go on offense during the economic downturn and boost strategic investment across our businesses made a big impact in 2010," said CEO Bruce Carbonari.

Fortune Brands, whose products include Master Lock and Moen, has announced its intention to separate its three consumer businesses --home and security, golf products and distilled spirits -- so it can focus solely on its liquor business as an independently publicly traded company.