Strong Australia and China sales propel Q3 revenue growth for Swisse
NutraIngredients, in conjunction with GOED, will be holding APAC's first ever omega-3 event in Singapore in February 2019, featuring renowned speakers from CSIRO, A*STAR, Koure, GOED and more.
The company's market share in vitamins and mineral supplements increased from 16% to 18.9% within the past year, driven by growing sales of new product ranges, and extra promotions, in local supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths.
Between January and September this year, the firm saw a revenue increase of 29.3%, thanks to rapid growth in China, where revenues in the adult nutrition and care products division rose 40.8%, from US$128.3m to US$180.63m.
Luo Fei, chairman of Swisse's owner, the Hong Kong-listed Health & Happiness (H&H) Group, said Swisse's China business "continued to demonstrate vigorous growth through new product launches and the leverage of comprehensive branding and marketing campaigns and collaborations with new celebrities and key opinion leaders".
He added the firm had launched two new product lines, Swisse Lifestyle and Swisse Ultinatal, to meet demand in two of the vitamin market's fastest-growing segments.
Competition and scandal
Swisse's top competitor, Blackmores, recently announced a 15% growth in revenues to US$109m, a 7% increase in net profit after tax to US$11.7m, and a 19% rise in sales in the three months ended September 30.
The firm attributed its performance in Australia partially to large retailers like Chemist Warehouse working directly with daigou shoppers in the country.
Swisse has continued to perform well despite the scandal surrounding Fan Bingbing, one of its celebrity brand ambassadors in China.
The actress had gone under the radar for several months after rumours of her alleged tax evasion arose, returning to the public eye only in early October after Chinese tax authorities stated she had complied with their demands to pay back US$114.7m in fines and back taxes.
There was speculation she might have been detained by authorities, though this was never explicitly reported. But while she managed to avoid imprisonment, she was made to issue an apology on social media, in which she said she felt "ashamed and guilty" for committing "tax evasion in Unbreakable Spirit and other projects by taking advantage of 'split contracts'."
