Pental profits soar on coronavirus-driven demand for soap and bleach

Our newfound love of anti-bacterial soap might be here stay, says a local manufacturer whose profits are soaring on virus-driven demand.

Pental is experienceing strong demand for the Country Life soap it makes in Shepparton. Picture: Andrew Rogers

Shoppers panic buying bleach, hand sanitisers and soap have put a rocket under the earnings of manufacturer Pental, placing it on track to post as much as a 35 per cent leap in its full-year pre-tax earnings.

Pental, whose popular grocery brands across cleaning products, soaps and laundry powders include White King bleach, Velvet, Pears, Country Life as well as Jiffy Firelighters, has enjoyed a boom in its sales since February when consumers started stripping cleaning products from the supermarket shelves. Pental also distributes Duracell batteries.

Last month Pental chief executive Charlie McLeish told The Australian that the company had encountered the kind of sales volumes usually witnessed in Christmas, with on some days even the turnover easily eclipsing usually strong Christmas trading.

In a statement to the ASX on Friday Pental said that in the wake of the panic buying, it expected its EBIT for fiscal 2020 to be between $6.3 million and $6.8 million, up from $5.015 million in 2019 and a gain of between 25 per cent and 35 per cent.

Pental CEO Charlie McLeish.

“Pental is experiencing elevated levels of consumer demand for its White King disinfectant cleaning products and new Country Life anti-bacterial soaps. This increase in demand has seen sales revenue increase over the last two months,’’ Pental said.

“Demand has also increased for Pears soaps as well as battery products, with the company’s Duracell partnership continuing to produce above average returns.”

However, Pental said it has faced challenges in sourcing packaging materials due to disruptions in global supply chains, but was confident in being able to meet demand – provided there are no additional government- mandated restrictions or further COVID-19 disruptions on supply chains.

“The long-term sustained impact of COVID-19 on demand is still unclear however early indications favour sustained levels of demand for strong germ-killing cleaning and soap products in the long run.”

Such has been the unprecedented demand for its White King bleach from shoppers trying to stay a step ahead the coronavirus pandemic that Pental’s factory in central Victoria is pumping out 90,000 bottles a day of the cleaning agent.