Melrose Park, IL
708.450.3000
www.alberto.com
Sales: $1.5 billion
Sales:
$1.5 billion (estimated) for personal care products. Corporate sales: $1.6 billion. Net income: $155 million for the year ended Sept. 30, 2010.
Key Personnel:
V. James Marino, president and chief executive officer; Gina Boswell, president, global brands; Richard J. Hynes, president, international; Casey Keller, president, US; Ralph J. Nicoletti, executive vice president and chief financial officer; Gary P. Schmidt, senior vice president, general counsel and secretary.
Major Products:
Hair Care—Alberto VO5, TreSemmé, Nexxus, Motions, Just for Me, Soft & Beautiful; Skin Care—St. Ives, Noxzema. Household Care—Static Guard, Kleen Guard.
New Products:
VO5 Perfect Hold Styling, Nexxus Pro•Mend
Comments:
Alberto is on its way out as a member of The Top 50. Last September, Unilever agreed to purchase the company in a $3.7 billion cash deal. The move satisfies several objectives for Unilever. Specifically, it:
• Enhances Unilever’s presence in an attractive, high-growthcategory.
• Brings a portfolio of attractive brands, which have togethergrown at above market growth rates in a competitivecategory.
• Provides Unilever with the opportunity to use its scale,reach and technology to take Alberto Culver’s brands to anew level in existing markets and extends its presence to newemerging markets.
• Adds successful styling andconditioning brands likeTreSemmé and Nexxus to Unilever’s US portfolio,complementing its own brands such as Suave, Dove and Sunsilk.
• Adds complementary brands like VO5, Tresemmé andSimple that enable Unilever’s UK business to cover moreprice pointsacross categories.
To learn more about Unilever, be sure to read The International Top 30, which will appear in the August issue of Happi.
While Alberto-Culver may be going out, it’s going out with a bang, not a whimper. Sales in fiscal 2010 rose more than 11% and net income rose 30%. In the US, sales increased 3.5% in the fourth quarter due to growth in TreSemmé and Nexxus. International sales on a reported basis increased 26.7% (the net effect of foreign currency fluctuations, acquisitions and divestitures accounted for approximately 19.5% of the growth) as each international region generated organic sales growth, with Latin America and Canada being particularly strong.
For the first quarter ended Dec. 31, 2011, sales increased 11.7% to $405 million. In the US, sales increased 2.8% on the strength of Nexxus’ sales.