Sturtevant, WI
Tel: 262.631.4001
www.diversey.com
Sales: $3.1 billion

Sales:
$3.1 billion. Net loss: $48.6 million

Key Personnel:
S. Curtis Johnson, chairman; Edward F. Lonergan, president and chief executive officer; Norman Clubb, executive vice president and chief financial officer; Gregory F. Clark, senior vice president, global value chain; James W. Larson, senior vice president, global human resources; John W. Matthews, senior vice president, corporate affairs and chief of staff to the president; Scott D. Russell, senior vice president, general counsel and secretary; Nabil Shabshab, executive vice president, global portfolio management; John Alexander, regional president, Americas; Pedro Chidichimo, regional president, Europe, Middle East and Africa; Moreno Dezio, regional president, greater Asia Pacific

Fast Fact: The Diversey name extends back to 1923, with the formation of Diversey Corporation in Chicago. Later it was known as Diversey Lever. In 2002, Johnson Wax Professional acquired the company from Unilever NV. The combined company was known as JohnsonDiversey, Inc. until March 2010.

Major Products:
Cleaning and hygiene solutions and services that are used in commercial, institutional and industrial facilities. The company operates in six categories: food service, food processing, floor care, restroom/other housekeeping, laundry and industrial. Brands include: Complete, ShowPlace, SnapBack, Virex, Alpha HP, G-Force, Crew, Soft Care, Good Sense, Endbac, Signature, J-Fill, Taski, Jonmaster, Suma, DuBois, Dify and Divermite. In addition, the company owns other well-known brands such as Butcher’s, Johnson Wax Professional, U.S. Chemical, Drackett Professional and PurEco Certified Green Products (Europe), as well as the Greenguard-Certified Healthy High Performance Cleaning program (includes products, tools and procedures.

New Products:
Taski Swingo XP machine, SmartDose bottle

Comments:
Now, you can call them Diversey, but you don’t have to call them Johnson! In March, JohnsonDiversey, Inc. changed its name to Diversey Holdings, Inc. The corporation’s operating companies are also changing their legal names to reference Diversey. Concurrent with the name change, Diversey, Inc. is adopting a new corporate identity, branding and tagline, “for a cleaner, healthier future.”

“Today represents an important milestone in the history of our company,” said S. Curtis Johnson, Diversey’s chairman. “Our new identity and tagline captures our people’s passion for helping to make our world cleaner, healthier and safer for future generations.”

Added Diversey president and chief executive officer Ed Lonergan, “Simplifying our name to Diversey and adopting a meaningful, unified global brand image derives from our commitment to provide our customers and their employees with superior and sustainable cleaning, sanitizing and hygiene solutions. Our new brand strengthens our ability to communicate the benefits of our high quality products and services.”

Sales fell 7% last year. More than 83% of sales were generated outside the U.S. In the Europe, Middle East and Africa segment, net sales increased 0.1%. This increase was primarily due to price increases and customer acquisitions across the region. Sales volume also increased in certain emerging markets, such as in Central and Eastern Europe, but was offset by volume declines in Western Europe, particularly in floor care equipment and cleaning tools and engineering sales, a result of customers deferring their capital investments, the company said.

Latin American net sales increased 6.1%. Growth came from most countries in the region, primarily through the implementation of price increases, offset by volume decreases in the lodging and retail sectors.

Asia Pacific net sales increased 1.6% due to continuing volume improvements in developing markets such as India, and stable growth in Australia, offset by volume decreases in the remainder of the region primarily caused by lower traffic in the lodging sector.

North American sales fell 1.2% due to reduced demand in the institutional distribution network and Diversey’s decision to exit certain underperforming food and beverage sector accounts.

Finally, in Japan, sales fell 10.6%. The company blamed half of the decline on the recession, and the rest to its decision to discontinue low margin businesses and underperforming accounts in both direct and indirect channels.

In financial news, in November, Clayton Dubilier & Rice, LLC purchased a 46% interest in the company for $477 million, as part of a broader recapitalization transaction valued at $2.6 billion.

For the first quarter of 2010, sales fell 1.1% to $747 million due to foreign currency fluctuations. The company recorded growth in Greater Asia Pacific, effectively flat sales in Europe, with “some challenges in the Americas.”