SSL buys condom, gel brand

CHESHIRE, England (June 28)—SSL International P.L.C. is aiming to broaden its geographic base and boost its operating profit with the purchase of the Saturn condom and lubricating gel brand from a consortium of Australian companies for an estimated cash sum of $3 million. As part of that growth plan, SSL also is restructuring the U.S. and Canadian segments of its Durex Consumer Products business; constructing a new state-of-the-art over-the-counter product manufacturing facility in the United Kingdom to replace an existing plant; gradually downsizing a small third-party brands distribution unit in the Far East; selling its Scholl retail businesses in the U.K. and Ireland; and considering globalizing its Wound Management Products division, which until now has concentrated on the U.K.