The BWX Ltd (ASX: BWX) share price is plummeting this morning after the beauty and wellness brand announced a leadership change.
At the time of writing, the BWX share price is down 14.22% trading at $3.74. Let's take a look at the news.
New leadership for BWX
In this morning's release, BWX advised that its group chief operations officer Rory Gration will take over the position of group CEO and managing director from 1 March.
Gration will replace Dave Fenlon, who will remain on the board as a non-executive director.
With 25 years of experience in consumer goods and executive positions before joining BWX, the board is confident in the transition.
BWX chair Ian Campbell said:
Rory has been with BWX since August 2018 and has played a pivotal role in executive BWX's global expansion strategy.
With our new operations and manufacturing facility opening in March 2022, the Board and Dave believe that now is the appropriate time for him to step into the Group CEO role.
Both regional operations managers — Doug Hosking (president, Americas) and Stephen Brown (managing director of APAC & EMEA) — will report to Gration.
A busy year for BWX in 2021
The appointment sets a fresh leadership agenda after a busy 2021 for the company. BWX's share price gained a boost in February and was at its highest in the middle of the year, coinciding with a landslide of news.
The company announced a five-year strategic partnership with Chemist Warehouse in February, coinciding with a share price jump of 11%.
Under the partnership, BWX's entire line of products will be carried through the chemist's Australian, New Zealand and Ireland online stores.
In May, the company announced it would acquire vegan retailer Flora & Fauna, and finalised the deal in July. A few days later, BWX confirmed the Chemist Warehouse collaboration.
In August, the company announced a 50.1% controlling stake in Go-To Skincare — a beauty brand founded by Australian personality, Zoë Foster Blake.
The BWX share price rose slightly on Christmas Eve as it paid its final consideration of $89.49 million for Go-To Skincare (after completing the customary post completion working capital adjustments), before falling again before the new year.
In today's announcement, BWX said it expects "strong revenue growth, including acquisitions, for the financial year ending December 2021" and anticipates this trend to continue into the full year FY22, providing the retail market continued to recover.
BWX share price snapshot
Despite its busy year of collaborations, the BWX share price has dropped by 26% in the last six months.
The company currently has a market capitalisation of around $605 million and a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 21.9.
