The McPherson's Ltd (ASX: MCP) share price will be on watch on Tuesday following the release of a trading update after the market close.
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What did McPherson's announce?
This afternoon McPherson's confirmed that sales from its core brands in the Australian market continue to exceed last year's figures.
According to the release, year to date, the company's owned brands, excluding the Dr. LeWinn's brand, have recorded sales growth of 7%.
This has been driven by double digit sales growth from the Manicare, Lady Jayne, and A'kin brands. Furthermore, market share growth has been recorded from 4 out of 6 of its owned brands.
The Dr. LeWinn's brand continues to weigh on the company's performance, though. Like A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M), this has been caused by weakness in the daigou channel.
However, unlike a2 Milk, the sales of these products inside China haven't been strong, with Chinese Singles' Day sales falling well short of expectations.
Global Therapeutics acquisition.
In addition to this, the company revealed that the Global Therapeutics acquisition from Blackmores Limited (ASX: BKL) completed successfully on 30 November and its integration is progressing smoothly.
Management believes that this reflects the professional, collaborative approach of Global Therapeutics, McPherson's, and Blackmores.
McPherson's new Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Grant Peck, commented: "McPherson's year to date domestic sales growth reflects the consumer appeal of our market leading brands and our focus on new product innovation. All of the early signs are positive as we integrate Global Therapeutics into McPherson's and realise the complementary capabilities of the combined teams. Domestically, we continue to drive cashflow to support our mature dividend profile and modest debt levels."
Mr Peck, who was appointed CEO earlier this month after the sudden departure of Laurie McAllister following a series of terrible updates, also provided the market with guidance for the first half of FY 2021.
He revealed that McPherson's is on track to achieve its previous first half underlying profit before tax guidance in the range of $6.5 million to $7.5 million. This represents an 11.8% to 23.5% decline on the prior corresponding period's profit before tax of $8.5 million.
In addition to this, the new chief executive revealed that shareholders should expect a dividend March. He advised that the company's dividend policy is to pay a minimum dividend of 60% of underlying profit after tax, subject to cash requirements.
In line with this policy and based on its forecast first half underlying earnings, an interim fully franked dividend of at least 3 cents per share is expected to be paid to shareholders in March.
Annualised, this represents a fully franked 4.5% dividend yield. This may be far better than many had expected after its recent updates and guidance withdrawal.
