Market share gains in Coles and Australian pharmacies for BWX Limited’s flagship brand Sukin helped the company boost sales by 26 per cent in the year to June to $187.7 million.
All of the company’s brands grew sales thanks to an acceleration of online shopping, partly due to the Covid-19 crisis keeping consumers indoors and out of stores.
Net profit after tax rose 59 per cent to $15.2 million, from $9.5 million the previous year.
BWX group CEO and MD Dave Fenlon said “persisting external challenges” in the second half year demonstrated that all of the company’s brands have an “increasingly deep connection with consumers” and he is confident of further growth in the year ahead.
“We know there’s more growth to be captured. Our Three Year Strategic Roadmap provides the framework from which to connect deeper with our consumers through innovative product development, and will be a key enabler in delivering a step change in our future operating performance supported by our investment in a brand new manufacturing facility,” he said.
“We enter FY21 with significant momentum as we continue to unlock our brands and their share of the global natural category, and we expect to deliver revenue and EBITDA growth of at least 10 per cent for the full-year FY21.”
BWX’s three strongest-performing brands last year were Sukin, which recorded 55 per cent year-on-year growth to $81.7 million, Andalou Naturals which grew 10 per cent to $53.3 million, and Mineral Fusion which grew 16 per cent to $28.4 million. Nourished Life achieved 15 per cent growth to $24.1 million, although second-half sales were up by 26 per cent due to consumers shifting to online shopping.
In response to the Covid-19 crisis, the company rapidly developed and released a natural hand-sanitiser product range for Sukin and Life Basics in the second half.
The company is investing in export growth, which resulted in “significant” distribution gains in Asia Pacific and the US for Sukin, Andalou Naturals and Mineral Fusion. Direct-to-consumer sales have also increased thanks to improved online sales reflecting changing consumer behaviour across global markets.
A focus for BWX over the next two years is building its supermarket and online business in Europe, targeting sales between $30 million and $50 million by the end of FY2023. It is currently on track to a $50 million supermarket business in Australia and its goal of $100 million in mass-market sales in the US.
