Soap maker Cussons reports steady progress
Imperial Leather soap maker PZ Cussons today said it was on track to deliver full-year results in line with expectations.
The company, which also makes Carex hand wash, reported better sales and profitability in the six months to November 30, adding it had reduced the impact on margins of rising raw material costs and a weak dollar.
Shares rose 1% today as the company said its outlook for the year to the end of May remained positive. It made pre-tax profits of £68.3m (€95m) last year.
Cussons also provided an update on key expansion projects in the UK and Nigeria, where it generates around 40% of its revenues.
The company said that additional capacity for a joint venture facility in Nigeria remained on track for the end of this year, with production from a second factory site expected by the end of 2008.
And construction on a new £26m (36m) manufacturing and innovation centre in Manchester – described by Cussons as a “personal wash centre of excellence” - is due to start in the spring.
PZ Cussons 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 in 1975. The Stockport-based firm now employs more than 11,000 people, with operations in Africa, Australia, India and Thailand.
The Charles Worthington products business – acquired by the firm in 2004 - includes shampoos, conditioners, styling and men’s skincare products. It has been rolled out nationwide, alongside extensive advertising in the last year.
