The BWX Ltd (ASX: BWX) share price has come under pressure on Thursday.
In morning trade, the personal care products company's shares are down 22% to a multi-year low of $1.45.
Why is the BWX share price being hammered?
Investors have been selling down the BWX share price today after the company's FY 2022 guidance fell well-short of the market's expectations.
When BWX released its half-results in February, it told the market it expected to deliver strong underlying revenue and EBITDA growth in FY 2022. However, it expected this growth to be weighted to the second half.
While this is always a bit of a red flag, the market appeared confident BWX would deliver on its guidance and was forecasting strong full year earnings and revenue growth.
However, as you might have guessed from the BWX share price performance today, the company's second half has not gone to plan.
What did BWX say?
BWX advised that it expects FY 2022 underlying revenue to be in the range of $240 million to $250 million for FY 2022. This will be up 24% to 29% year on year, driven by positive performance from Sukin and Mineral Fusion but impacted by the underperformance of its digital businesses.
As for earnings, the strong growth that was promised in FY 2022 is non-existent after its earnings went backwards in the second half.
BWX now expects to report underlying EBITDA in the range of $34 million to $37 million. This represents a decline of 1.5% to growth of 7% on FY 2021's EBITDA of $34.5 million.
Management advised that this reflects the impacts of a higher operating cost base, and recent acquisition investments not yet meeting growth expectations. In addition, the company notes that freight and supply chain costs are substantially higher than the prior corresponding period due to COVID impacts.
Refreshingly, the company isn't hiding from its underperformance like many companies do. For example, it has provided the market with analyst consensus estimates to compare its performance against.
It notes that analysts were expecting revenue of $261 million (up 34%) and ETBIDA of $45.1 million (up 31%). As a comparison, the top end of BWX's guidance range is revenue of $250 million and EBITDA of $37 million.
Management commentary
BWX's new CEO, Rory Gration, was disappointed with the half. He also revealed plans to reduce the company's cost base to a more sustainable level. Mr Gration said:
"BWX's instore revenue performance has accelerated from 1H22 and the business is supported by strong brands and an ability to scale distribution in key markets and sales channels. Initiatives for reducing our cost base are a key priority, supported by improved visibility and cost controls to ensure sustainable revenue growth.
"With less distractions across the business, the team is focused on streamlining and simplifying our operating model to ensure BWX can continue to grow in a sustainable and profitable way – we look forward to sharing more details at our upcoming Investor Day."
