Brazil’s Natura & Co reports 292% increase in Q4 net profit

(Reuters) -Brazilian cosmetics maker Natura & Co reported on Wednesday a 292% increase in fourth-quarter net income, supported by structural changes and faster-than-expected synergy capture with Avon.

The company reported a 695.4 million reais ($138.74 million)net profit, beating a Refinitiv forecast of 161 million reais.

The company, which owns brands like Avon, The Body Shop and Aesop, reported quarterly net revenue of 11.6 billion reais, a 3% drop in comparison with the previous year, but in line with a Refinitiv forecast of 11.5 billion reais.

Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin reached 13.3%, up 90 basis points from the same quarter last year.

The company said synergies from its purchase of Avon, bought in 2019, have accelerated faster than the expected, “with about 50% of target already achieved at the end year, helping Natura & Co to offset raw material inflation and negative effects of the exchange rate,” it said.

In an interview with Reuters, Natura’s CEO Roberto Marques said the company’s plan to switch its primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) had been put on hold for now.

“For everything that is happening, expectation of a very volatile market, with a lot of uncertainty … maybe it’s not the time to do it now, ” he said.

Marques also said the company sees a challenging semester due to the Ukrainian conflict, and that it is reducing expenses in the face of expected volatility.

He added that Natura has suspended exports from its Avon plant in Russia and is transferring volumes to its Poland plant. It has also suspended its Body Shop and Aesop operations in Russia.

($1 = 5.0123 reais)

(Reporting by Carolina Pulice and Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Richard Pullin)