9th Jun 2016 07:02
LONDON (Alliance News) - Consumer products company PZ Cussons PLC on Thursday said it performed in line with expectations in its recently-ended financial year, with trading in Europe and Asia offsetting more difficult conditions in Africa.
Within Europe, the UK washing and bathing division performed strongly in all brands, driven by brand renovation and innovation. The new range of Carex products performed particularly well, joined by Original Source, while the Imperial Leather portfolio was extended. In the UK beauty division, St Tropez tanning products achieved "excellent growth".
Performance in the smaller European markets of Poland and Greece was in line with expectations, PZ Cussons said.
In Australia, which falls into the group's Asian business, a good performance in personal care, beauty and food & nutrition, offset more difficult trading conditions in home care. Indonesia, meanwhile, saw another year of good revenue growth, while the smaller markets of Thailand and the Middle East performed in line with expectations.
Finally, within the African business, all business units sold "relatively well" in Nigeria, PZ Cussons said, despite a challenging macro economic environment where consumers are being affected by inflationary pressures.
However, an exceptional charge of GBP17 million is expected in relation to settling a brought-forward dollar liability in Nigeria in the secondary market. The charge will be accounted for as it is realised, with GBP7 million to be taken in financial 2016.
"There continues to be low levels of dollar liquidity in the economy with an additional cost of funding naira from the secondary market. Our focus is on securing materials for the key selling product lines, developing local sourcing to reduce our overall dollar requirements and ensuring relative pricing remains competitive," PZ Cussons said in a statement.
Performance in the smaller African markets of Ghana and Kenya was in line with expectations, the company added.
Looking forward, PZ Cussons expects its performance in Europe and Asia to continue strongly, while trading conditions in Nigeria are anticipated to remain challenging with its outcome dependent on movements in the naira exchange rate. The Nigerian business makes up 25% of group profit.
"The group remains well placed to benefit from its position in Nigeria once growth returns to the market. The group's balance sheet remains strong and well placed to pursue new opportunities for growth as they arise," PZ Cussons said.
PZ Cussons will release its full-year results to the end of May on July 26.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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