Perrigo sales up as consumers seek self-care products during pandemic

Perrigo sales up as consumers seek self-care products during pandemic
Perrigo President and CEO Murray Kessler

ALLEGAN — Higher consumer demand to treat symptoms of COVID-19 pushed Perrigo Co. plc to a 14-percent increase in sales growth for the first quarter.

Perrigo (Nasdaq: PRGO) today reported quarterly net sales of $1.34 billion, which compares to $1.17 billion for the first three months of 2019.

Quarterly net income totaled $106.4 million, or 77 cents per diluted share. Perrigo reported $63.9 million in net income, or 47 cents per share, in the first quarter a year earlier.

“We were able to report another quarter of strong growth across all business segments with robust sales and profitability above expectations. While we started the year off with similarly strong trends that we experienced in the fourth quarter of 2019, our business surged significantly in March in response to the global demand created by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Perrigo President and CEO Murray Kessler said in this morning’s earnings statement. “Worth noting, not only did our team keep the business running, they also made significant further progress on our Consumer Self-Care transformation. Perrigo is clearly well-positioned for a ‘New-Normal’ future, which will need ‘Quality, Affordable Self-Care Products’ more than ever before.”

Sales for Perrigo’s largest business unit, Consumer Self-Care Americas, grew 20.4 percent in the first quarter to $701 million. Minus revenue from the animal health business Perrigo sold last year, sales for the Consumer Self-Care Americas division grew 25 percent.

Sales in Perrigo’s Consumer Self-Care International division increased 9.1 percent over a year earlier to $383 million.

Perrigo did not provide guidance for future sales and earnings, citing the “volatility and uncertainty associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and its potential impact on demand” and “the company’s ability to manufacture and supply product and overall fluidity of the current environment, amongst other factors.”

Kessler did say that “while the balance of the year may be a bit lumpy,” he expects Perrigo to exceed a targeted 3-percent organic growth rate for 2020 as long as production facilities worldwide continue operating.

“We are living in unprecedented and challenging times,” Kessler said in a conference call to discuss quarterly results.