The Blackmores Limited (ASX: BKL) share price has plunged for the second day in a row.
At the time of writing, the Blackmores share price is down 10.23% trading at $75.90, after hitting an intraday low of $72.26 early this afternoon. The S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Staples (ASX: XSJ) is also ending the trading day among the worst-performing sectors on the ASX.
So, what's going on with the natural health company?
What did Blackmores reveal?
Yesterday, the company announced its half-year results for FY22.
The company revealed a 14.3% increase in group revenue to $346 million, a 21.2% increase in underlying earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to $38.3 million, and an underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) increase of 9.6% year on year at $20.8 million.
Looking at its operations, Blackmores saw a 49.8% increase in revenue from a number of its international arms — including India, Indonesia and Thailand — totalling $116.2 million. Revenue in China increased by 8.5%.
However, the company noted that Australia and New Zealand did not perform as well, with revenue for the region falling 1.2% to $145.9 million.
What else happened?
Despite feeling the pinch of COVID-19, Blackmores said in its release the company did its best to avoid discounting:
Our strategy to price Blackmores at a premium position to the market was deemed a success in driving higher earnings relative to some of our competitors who use short term deep price discounting to buy market share.
The Blackmores share price dropped by 6% yesterday despite the largely positive results. The timing coincided with the wider S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) falling 3% yesterday to 6,990.6 points in the fallout of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
What next?
Looking ahead, Blackmores said in its half-yearly report:
Our investments in supply chain capabilities have made Blackmores more resilient and underpin our ability to meet customer demand.
Given the ongoing uncertainty due to COVID-19 across our markets and its impact on global supply chains, these improvements will help us manage what we believe will continue to be a challenging environment throughout the remainder of FY22.
The company also gave investors something to look forward to, — an upcoming dividend (fully franked) of 63 cents per share to be paid on 12 April.
Blackmores share price snapshot
In the last 12 months, the Blackmores share price has dropped 6.7%. Shares in the company fell as low as $63.17 in May last year and climbed as high as $103.97 in November.
The company has a market capitalisation of $1.8 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 61.1, trailing 12 months.
