New Blackmores chief executive Alastair Symington has warned that higher raw material and ingredient costs are a handbrake on the business, which is also grappling with extra costs as it takes control of a $53 million tablet-making factory in Melbourne.

Mr Symington, who took the helm in mid-September from interim chief executive and major shareholder Marcus Blackmore, said profits for the first half of 2019-2020 were likely to be at similar levels to the June half of 2018-19.