Hain Celestial, which owns brands such as Ella's Kitchen, Rose's cordial and Hartley's jam, has posted a 6% net sales decrease in its full year, to $2.3 billion (€2.08 billion), with net sales down 4% on a constant currency basis.
The group said that this decline was mainly due to its ongoing Project Terra product rationalisation programme, which has seen the group shed itself of underperforming brands and streamline its operations. Earlier this week, it announced the sale of its Tilda rice brand, to Ebro Foods.
In the fourth quarter specifically, net sales were down 10% to $558 million, or down 7% on a constant currency basis.
'Solid Execution'
"We are pleased with our team's solid execution on our transformational strategic plan during the fourth quarter," commented Mark L. Schiller, the company's president and chief executive.
"Our financial results demonstrate the third consecutive quarter of sequential adjusted margin improvement along with key operational improvements in the United States and internationally."
Schiller noted that the group has been able to make "significant progress" on its development plans in a short period of time, whereby the group is seeking to evolve into a "smaller, more profitable business" in order to drive topline growth.
"For fiscal 2020, we remain confident in our ability to generate significant further improvements in overall profit across our business and in building the foundation for future accelerated growth," he added.
Group Performance
In terms of the group's various divisions, in the US, net sales were down 7% over the full year, to $1.01 billion, while Hain Celestial United Kingdom saw sales down 6% to $886 million. Rest of World net sales were down 6% to $408 million.
The company has been busy in terms of divestments this year; in February, it sold all the assets relating to its Plainville Farms business, while in June, it competed the sale of its equity interest in Hain Pure Protein Corporation, which included the FreeBird and Empire Kosher businesses.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
