PZ Cussons offloads brands as part of strategic shift

Consumer goods firm PZ Cussons has agreed to offload two of its brands as it embarks on a new strategy to focus on core ranges.

Greek food business Minerva is to be sold for £41 million to a company controlled by Luxembourg-based investment firm Diorama.

Diorama has appointed Deca Investments as its external fund manager.

Minerva is more than 100 years old and was the first company to sell branded packaged olive oil in Greece.

It is expected that the sale will reduce Cussons’ profit before tax for the 2019 financial year by £1.8 million.

Chief executive Alex Kanellis said: “The sale of Minerva provides additional proceeds to continue to drive our strategy forward.

“Deca is an excellent partner for Minerva’s future growth prospects and I would like to thank the Minerva team for their hard work and dedication during their time with us and wish them every success in the future.”

The group has also exchanged contracts on the sale of Polish personal care brand Luksja to Athens-based Sarantis.

Under the deal, the brand’s new owner will distribute certain Cussons core brand products such as Carex and Original Source in Poland and central Eastern Europe.

Mr Kanellis said: “Luksja is a great fit with Sarantis’s portfolio and I would like to thank the Luksja team for their important contribution to the development of PZ Cussons Poland in recent years.”

The disposals mark the beginning of a strategy announced last month, when Cussons said it would “focus, scale and accelerate” its core personal care and beauty brands.