Cussons outlines plan for new factory
Imperial Leather and Carex soap maker PZ Cussons said today it was planning a new £15m (€22m) factory to make shower and bath gels.
The Stockport-based company unveiled the scheme as it reported a 9% rise in underlying pre-tax profits to £63.6m (€93.1m) after enjoying improved sales for the year to May 31.
PZ said the planned North Manchester factory would help meet growing demand in the UK for bathroom gels and comes two months after the firm shifted soap production from Nottingham to Thailand, with the loss of 160 jobs.
The facility will be funded thanks to the sale of the current Manchester base along with the Nottingham factory. It should be up and running by 2008 and workers will be gradually transferred from the old site.
A spokesman said the firm had decided to build the “liquids factory” in the UK instead of shift production abroad to cut down on transport costs and stay close to the market.
PZ Cussons is also planning to expand its milk factory in Nigeria where sales of the firm’s powdered and evaporated milk – which it makes in a joint venture with Glanbia – has exceeded expectations.
Its success in the country has also crossed over to its white goods business, where growth in sales of fridges, freezers and air conditioners in partnership with China’s Haier has helped boost African revenues to £211.8m (€310m) from £159.4m (€233.33m) a year ago.
Total revenues across the group rose to £539.9m (€790.3m) from £480.1m (€702.75m) a year ago, while the company said bottom-line profits rose 15% to £61.2m (€89.58m).
Chairman Anthony Green said: “Revenues and profits have improved as a result of good performance in key territories, particularly Nigeria, and the elimination of losses incurred last year in Russia.”
The firm started life when George Paterson and George Zochonis (PZ) set up a trading post in Sierra Leone in 1879 to export cotton, palm oil and coffee and by 1886 they had opened an office in Manchester.
PZ bought a soap factory in Nigeria in 1948 and acquired soap maker Cussons Group Ltd in 1975. The firm now employs 11,000 people at operations in Africa, Australia, India and Thailand.
Shares in PZ Cussons were up 6% today – or 85p – at 1470p as the company announced a 10% increase in the total dividend to 38.8p a share.
