Ingredients player United Guardian says personal care is driving sales growth

Sales for the nine month period ending 30 September grew by 8.5 per cent to reach $11.16m, which the company says was a new nine month record. It also marked a turnaround from last year, when sales were hit by the economic crisis.

However, net income for the nine months was hit by charges related to pension schemes, which saw net income fall by nearly 1 percent to $2.96m, from $2.99m in the corresponding period in 2009.

United Guardian CEO Ken Globus underlined the fact that sales of personal care ingredients had helped drive the gains during the nine month period, thanks to a 17 percent year-on-year increase.

China a Russia lead the way​

“We are working with our global marketing partners to continue to increase sales of these products, with particular emphasis on the growing consumer markets in emerging economies, such as China and Russia where our sales have grown significantly in recent years,” ​Globus said.

The sales gains for the group were even more pronounced over the third quarter, when the figure rose by 13.4 per cent to $3.84m, a figure that is a third quarter record performance.

Likewise third quarter net income was not impacted by the pension charges, which meant that the figure increased by 15 per cent to $1.24m, compared to $1.08m for same period last year.

Personal care lives up to expectations​

The sales increase has continued from the first quarter of this year, when gains were forecast to continue for the rest of 2010, driven mainly by its personal care ingredient lines.

The company, which also targets the health care and pharmaceutical markets, is now looking to build on its gains in the personal care market by continuing to develop new and more targeted ingredient lines.

United Guardian targets the hair care and skin care markets, and carries more than 35 ingredient lines, including numerous variations of its Lubrajel and Klensoft lines, together with Orchid Complex and NatraMul, which are both targeted at natural formulations.