Trilogy lifts first-half profit 10pc, reiterates guidance for $100m revenue this year

Trilogy international's shares have dropped more than 22 per cent in a month. Photo/supplied

Trilogy International, the skincare and home fragrance company, lifted first-half profit 10 per cent and reiterated its earnings guidance for the full year.

Net profit rose to $3.5 million, or 5 cents per share, in the six months ended September 30, from $3.2m, or 5 cents, a year earlier, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. Revenue rose 63 per cent to $47.8m, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) gained 34 per cent to $7.2m.

Trilogy's brands include Ecoya, Trilogy and Goodness, and it owns CS & Co, the country's largest independent importer and distributor of fragrances and toiletries, which it bought in August 2015.

The company affirmed its September guidance for 2017 revenue of $100m to $110m, a gain of between 20 per cent and 32 per cent over 2016's $83m of sales, and ebitda of $19m to $21m, from $16.3m in 2016.

If Trilogy International achieves $100m in revenue it will have almost tripled sales in just two years, mainly through the CS & Co acquisition. CS & Co delivered $24m in revenue in the first half, and ebitda of $3.6m.

Ecoya delivered nearly $9m in revenue, up 4.4 per cent from the first half of 2016, and $339,000 in ebitda, while its skincare brands Trilogy and Goodness posted $17.8m in revenue, up 14.6 per cent, though ebitda fell to $4.5m from $5.5m the previous year.

The bulk of Trilogy's sales still come from New Zealand, at $28.4m in the first half, while $13.5m in revenue came from Australia. The company said it is working to strengthen its distribution networks, signing an agreement with a broker and specialist beauty chain Credo Beauty in the US, along with an agreement with Chinese e-commerce company QBID to build its cross-border sales into that country.

In May, Trilogy acquired 25 per cent of Chilean rosehip producer Forestal Casino for US$8m in cash and shares, giving it certainty of supply for an oil used in skincare products. In the first half it gained $183,000 from its share of earnings.

The shares last traded at $3.66, up 1.4 per cent in early trading, and have gained 30 per cent this year. The board didn't declare an interim dividend.