Alberto Culver acquires skin care brand from P&G
The New York-based company has historically focused on the hair care sector with leading brands TRESemme, Alberto VO5, and Nexxus, however the recent acquisition underlines its intention to strengthen its skin care portfolio.
The worldwide rights and trademarks to the skincare brand will become the property of Alberto Culver which will distribute products in the US, Canada and parts of Latin America.
However, Procter and Gamble will continue to operate the Noxzema shaving, deodorant, body wash and body soap businesses in parts of Western Europe.
Commenting on the agreement, which is subject to certain regulatory approvals, CEO James V. Marino said: “Noxzema is an iconic US skin care brand and our team is very excited to add it to our beauty care portfolio.”
Skin care set to grow
Noxzema joins the company’s existing beauty brand St. Ives, which offers botanically-based face and body products, and the company hope that together they will provide ‘significant opportunities for growth in the skin care category’.
Executive chairman of the company, Carol Lavin Bernick, underlined the importance of the category to the company.“With the pending acquisition of Noxzema, the board reaffirms our commitment and focus on skin care. Noxzema is a brand with strong potential for our existing portfolio,” she said.
Strong sales but bottom line suffers
The company recently released strong sales results for the quarter ending June 30, 2008, and said these results were all the more impressive considering the softness of the US and UK hair care categories.
However, the company did warn that due to the timing of various initiatives, including the introduction of Nexxus into the club channel this time last year, fourth quarter results may suffer.
In addition, the 12.3 percent sales increase was pulled down by the poor performance of former subsidiary Cederroth and translated into a 15.8 percent fall in net earnings.
The company sold this division back in May, however the subsidiary’s disappointing record was registered as discontinued operations on the balance sheet, significantly affecting the company’s overall performance.
