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(Alliance News) - Consumer goods firm PZ Cussons PLC on Tuesday managed to increase interim profit despite "challenging market conditions" causing a fall in revenue.
PZ Cussons's pretax profit in the half-year to November-end rose by 35% to GBP34.7 million, which the firm attributed to the sale of its Greek business as well as lower year-on-year exceptional costs.
On an adjusted basis, PZ Cussons's pretax profit declined by 12%, or 13% at constant currency rates, to GBP28.0 million.
The company reported revenue of GBP293.3 million for the half, 3.1% lower than the year before at actual currency rates and 4.3% lower at constant currency.
Manchester-based PZ Cussons, which owns brands such as Imperial Leather soap and Original Source shower gel, held its interim dividend flat on the year before, proposing a dividend of 2.67 pence per share.
"The group's adjusted results for the first half of the year were impacted by challenging market conditions across our key geographies," said Chair Caroline Silver.
"We were pleased to see that the performance of our Focus Brands was stable overall compared to the prior year. Our investment remains targeted towards these Focus Brands and this will continue in the second half of the year."
"We have started to restructure our portfolio of activities, disposing of our business in Greece and agreeing the sale of our Polish brand. Further portfolio reshaping is underway and initiatives to improve our operating efficiency are being implemented at pace," she added.
PZ Cussons has experienced a difficult recent period, particularly in Nigeria.
This led to the firm in 2019 announcing a new strategy, which included focusing on the core Personal Care and Beauty segments, simplifying the Nigerian business, and selling non-core operations. The Greek business was sold for GBP40.9 million during the year.
Europe & the Americas revenue for the first half fell 4.4% at reported rates to GBP91.6 million, Asia Pacific fell by 1.5% to GBP94.2 million, and Africa by 3.4% to GBP107.5 million.
The African unit posted a reported operating loss before exceptional items of GBP600,000, after a GBP200,000 profit a year earlier. Europe & the Americas rose 53% to GBP29.6 million due to the Greece sale, while Asia Pacific fell 8.0% to GBP8.0 million.
Looking ahead, PZ Cussons expects a better second half to its financial year. The company sees full-year revenue and pretax profit being "modestly below" its previous financial year.
Shares were 0.3% lower on Tuesday morning in London at 194.00p apiece.
By George Collard; georgecollard@alliancenews.com
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