PZ Cussons to sell Luksja to Sarantis as it focuses on core brands

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Aug 29, 2019

British personal care giant PZ Cussons has agreed to sell its Polish personal care brand Luksja to Athens-based specialist Sarantis Group. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed.

The deal goes further than a simple divestment with the two companies having also agreed to enter into a distribution contract whereby Sarantis will distribute certain PZ Cussons' core brands (which include Carex, Original Source and Morning Fresh) in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe. 

Following completion of the deal, PZ Cussons' own on-the-ground operations in Poland will be wound down.

The company is also selling a foods brand, Minerva and CEO Alex Kanellis said of the two transactions: “The proposed sale of Minerva and Luksja forms part of PZ Cussons' new strategy to 'Focus, Scale and Accelerate', announced along with our final FY19 results on 23 July. 

“We are streamlining the group to focus investment on core Personal Care and Beauty brands to deliver higher-margin earnings, in geographies that can scale, with the aim of returning the group to sustainable, profitable growth.”

PZ Cussons has faced some challenging times in recent periods with sales and profits dented by challenging conditions in one of its key markets, Nigeria. But while the company has faced headwinds in other markets too, its performance is Asia Pacific, Europe and The Americas has been more “solid”.

Along with its full-year results in July, it announced its new strategy saying “we cannot rely upon short term economic conditions improving markedly in our key markets and are therefore taking action to reposition the group to return to profitable growth. Our resources and investment will be prioritised behind key categories and brands in only those geographies offering the clearest opportunities. Our cost base will be tightly managed and we will act at pace.”

And it certainly has acted at pace with the latest divestment announcement coming just a month after the strategy was unveiled.