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Sutter purchases the Neutromed business unit from Henkel and enters the personal hygiene products market while 2023 revenues reach 108 million. On October 30th the signing of the deed in Milan, valid from November 1st, while yesterday afternoon the announcement was made to the Sutter staff and sales force. «For the whole of November, production and sales will remain in the hands of Henkel – says Aldo Sutter, president, CEO and fifth generation of the family business -. From December 1st everything will pass to Sutter while production will remain in Germany for a maximum of one year. Over this period of time we will work to bring production back to Italy.”
The economic terms of the operation were not disclosed but the CEO explains that it only took a month to close the deal. The Italian group with the business branch also purchased the formulations of the products with the packaging, the molds and the intellectual property rights of the brand in many countries around the world also become part of Sutter’s intangible heritage. In the Borghetto Borbera plant, in the province of Alessandria, two new production lines will most likely be created: the first dedicated to the Neutromed line for intimate hygiene and the second for bath and shower products.
The decision to sell the Neutromed brand is part of Henkel’s strategic process of rationalization and consolidation of its consumer business portfolio in Italy. «This operation allows us to concentrate our investments on the business areas in which we operate with leadership positions all over the world and to continue the development of the Hcb (Henkel consumer brands ed.) division which, less than a year after its establishment, has achieved excellent results and continues on its growth path” underlines Mara Panajia, General Manager Hcb and President Henkel Italia.
In May 2021 (see Il Sole 24 Ore of 19 May 2021 ed.) Sutter had also purchased the General detergent line from Henkel. «During Covid we outlined a new strategy starting from a reflection on the consumer market: with the Emulsio brand and its 25 million in revenues we would not have been able to justify our business – explains the CEO of the Sutter Group -. We decided to play on the attack, make a leap in size and expand our presence on the market and when General’s opportunity arose we took the opportunity to revitalize that brand.”
It was decided to bring the production of detergent to the Borghetto Borbera site using the finished products warehouse whose management was outsourced and «a large investment was made for the production line and other systems such as the tanks for raw materials and those for handling the finished product – continues Sutter -. Investments for 5 million, quite a lot for a company that had a turnover of 71 million. Then we worked on the General range and designed new bottles.” A renewal that has led to the doubling of sales which will reach 26 million in 2023 while General holds a market share of 5.2%.