PZ Cussons – a company that's starting to scrub up nicely

Consumer goods group PZ Cussons has struggled for several years, but its new CEO should should turn it around.

Carex soap © Alamy
Carex is the number one hand sanitiser brand in the UK
(Image credit: © Alamy)

Consumer goods firm PZ Cussons was founded 130 years ago as Patterson Zuchonis by two Georges – Patterson (a Scot) and Zochonis (a Greek) – to trade commodities between the UK and West Africa. In 1953 the company listed on the London Stock Exchange, valued at £1m – versus an £875m market cap today. In 1975 Patterson Zochonis acquired Cussons, which included the Imperial Leather soap brand, and in 2002 the company changed its name to its current form.

Aside from Imperial Leather, its other brands include Carex (hand sanitiser), Original Source (shower gel) St Tropez (self-tan) and Sanctuary Spa (shower oil and body butter). Carex is the number one hand sanitiser brand in the UK (with a 36% market share) and sales doubled at the start of the pandemic. The company estimates that Carex was used to clean one billion hands in the UK in the course of 2020. In short, it should have been a favourable time to be a shareholder.

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Bruce Packard
Contributor

Bruce is a self-invested, low-frequency, buy-and-hold investor focused on quality. A former equity analyst, specialising in UK banks, Bruce now writes for MoneyWeek and Sharepad. He also does his own investing, and enjoy beach volleyball in my spare time. Bruce co-hosts the Investors' Roundtable Podcast with Roland Head, Mark Simpson and Maynard Paton.