Cussons more than washes its face

Cussons also said its new £26 million 'UK personal wash' manufacturing facility and innovation centre in Manchester had been completed on schedule in February and is now fully operational. The site encompasses a state of the art liquids manufacturing facility with capacity for over 100 million bottles per annum, a world class perfumery and an integrated research and development centre. "The benefits of having the three elements co-located on one site are already being experienced," Cussons said. Elsewhere, Cussons said its African operations had benefited from continued political and economic stability with Nigeria less impacted by the global credit crunch and a £39 million investment project in manufacturing and distribution facilities there well under way. Australia and Indonesia enjoyed a "good performance" despite adverse cost and exchange rate impacts. Chairman Anthony Green said 2009 – the 125th anniversary of the Group – had been successful with strong performance in all territories despite the challenging economic environment. He went on: "Our diverse geographical spread has ensured that the Group's successful track record of profitable growth continues, with our strategy of 'local brands for local markets' enabling us to tailor our product offering appropriately in each territory to suit the local economic conditions. "Our flexibility and speed to market in each territory has enabled us to react quickly to challenging trading conditions as well as significant cost and exchange rate volatility. "The focus on working capital this year has enabled us to reduce significantly our overall working capital levels resulting in a return to an overall net funds position. In addition, all capital expenditure has been funded from cash flow with our state of the art facility in Manchester now completed and our major investment in Nigeria well underway. "Overall performance since the year end has been in line with management expectations. We face the year with cautious optimism and well placed to pursue further investment opportunities." Revenues for the year were 27% up at £883 million (£661m) while pre-tax profit rose 16% to £89 million (£76.5m).