BWX slashes value of Zoe Foster Blake’s brand as it posts $335m loss

The ASX-listed owners of Zoe Foster Blake’s skincare range have slashed the value of the entrepreneur’s brand as part of a wider review of the business that has led to it posting $335 million loss for the 2022 financial year.

BWX’s revaluation of the Go-To brand will slash $30 million from the $89.9 million payment the beauty range entrepreneur was expected to receive from selling the remainder of her share of the business amid concerns of a slowdown in consumer spending and company forecasts based on overly rosy growth expectations.

BWX, which also owns the Sukin and Mineral Fusion brands along with a majority share in the Go-To business, posted its long-awaited results on Monday after months of delays that led to the company being suspended from the stock exchange.

The group, which recently secured emergency funding to keep itself afloat, also used the Monday release of its results to restate its 2021 accounts, slashing the revenue it recorded in 2021 and significantly reducing its guidance for the 2023 financial year.

The weakness across the business has forced BWX to revalue its brands, with the company slashing $73 million from the overall value of Foster Blake’s business, a more than $100 million hit from the price BWX put on the business when it acquired it in 2021.

Loading

That value reduction included a $43 million impairment on its value of the 51.1 per cent stake in the business it already owned and a $30 million reduction on the value of the liability associated with the company’s purchase of the remaining shares of Go-To.

BWX, which counts billionaires Nicola and Andrew Forrest as investors, has also slashed the value of its US business by $158 million and its other Australian brands by $83 million. All up, its total writedowns were $322 million.

BWX, which has high debt levels, has vowed to cut its inventory, slash costs and divest brands to bring its balance sheet under control. It has also lowered its guidance for 2023, from expected revenue of $260 million to $270 million to $210 million to $230 million. Expected underlying earnings target for the period of between $45 million and $49 million has been revised down to between $25 million and $30 million.