Ansell touts sustainability, bright future at annual meeting

MELBOURNE, Australia—Ansell Ltd. CEO Neil Salmon is excited for the Australian manufacturing company's future.

With the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic largely in the rearview mirror and the company's financial guidance prospects looking up, Salmon has reason to be optimistic.

Ansell held its annual trading update meeting on Oct. 29, hosted by Salmon and board Chairman Nigel Garrard.

Trading conditions are looking up in a fully post-pandemic world, according to Salmon, and Ansell is looking to capitalize on the recovering economy.

"Despite the difficult trading conditions we have experienced over the past few years, we have continued to invest in those areas where we can generate meaningful long-term shareholder value," Salmon said.

"I am confident that with the end market disruptions of the post-pandemic era now largely behind us, the benefits of these investments will begin to more fully reveal themselves in (fiscal year 2025) and beyond."

Results for the 2024 fiscal year were largely as expected, according to Garrard. After job cuts were made in 2023 to offset post-pandemic destocking and low demand, the second half of the fiscal year showed a sales uptick with encouraging signs for the near- and long-term future.

"Pleasingly, in the second half of the year, we saw improved sales performance in our health care segment and clear signs that the lengthy period of post-pandemic destocking is largely behind us," Garrard said.

Ansell's EBIT was $195.5 million for the fiscal year before significant items, representing a 1.3-percent decline from 2023, with group sales dropping 2.9 percent to $1.62 billion. Salmon said that while 2024 did not see rapid growth for Ansell, the company is looking to long-term growth with a variety of solutions.

"(The 2024 fiscal year) was a year of significant strategic progress for Ansell as we emerged from the multiyear period of post-pandemic end market disruptions that have affected our health care segment," Salmon said. "While our growth has been curtailed through this period, we have continued to make the necessary investments to position Ansell for superior growth and returns in the longer term."

Salmon said that the company's recent acquisition of Kimberly-Clark's personal protective equipment business, finalized earlier this year, has afforded room on their future financial guidance outlook.

"Considering the strength of our performance in the early part of (fiscal year 2025), I am happy to be able to revise up the bottom end of our prior (earnings) guidance range from 107 to 110 U.S. cents," Salmon said.

In July, Ansell completed its acquisition of Kimberly-Clark for $640 million. Announced in April, the strategic business move allowed Ansell to strengthen its business in several scientific markets previously explored by Kimberly-Clark, Garrard said.

"(The acquisition of Kimberly-Clark) is a significant milestone for Ansell and enhances our position in key scientific markets," he said. "The acquisition was supported by a successful capital raising, demonstrating the confidence our investors have in the growth potential of the acquired business and in our strategic direction."

Under Ansell, Irving, Tex.-based Kimberly-Clark has become the Kimtech and KleenGuard Business Unit (KBU). Salmon said he considered the new business unit "one of our most attractive acquisition opportunities."

The new group will bolster Ansell's product portfolio and financial future, he said, and create future investment value for shareholders around the globe.

"We are seeing good momentum in the trading performance of the acquired business while our immediate focus is on completing a seamless integration and exiting transitional service arrangements with Kimberly-Clark by the end of (fiscal year 2025)," Salmon said. "Once we have achieved this critical milestone, we will be in a position to accelerate sales growth and realize meaningful cost synergies in (fiscal year 2026)."

Ansell is continuing its focus on sustainability.

The company has a strong commitment to waste reduction across its facilities, Salmon said, adding that all plants within the company's original scope have become certified zero waste to landfill. Ansell's two new plants will follow suit once sustainability implementation is finished, he said.

"Previously, approximately 20,000 (metric) tons of waste from our manufacturing facilities was going to landfill every year," Salmon said. "Now that's been reduced by 99.8 percent, and we're all proud of that accomplishment."

In addition to maintaining sustainability standards themselves, Ansell is looking to keep its customer base informed on its commitment to the environment. Salmon said that Ansell has created a program known as "Ansell Earth" on its website, which includes sheets of sustainability data for over 200 Ansell products.

"Look up one of those styles on the Ansell website and it will tell you how it was made, with information on the use of renewable energy, waste management, recyclability of packaging and so forth," Salmon said. "Our distributor customers are finding this information very useful and are reflecting this in how they classify which products have a lower environmental impact."

Salmon also spoke on Ansell's safety record in recent years, and its continued push to become as safe and worker friendly as possible.

Following a record low, fiscal year 2024 saw a bump in workplace accidents, he said. Ansell is working to bring that number down in the immediate future, and bolster its reputation as a safety company first and foremost.

"After a steady reduction in recordable accidents over the past 10 years, we saw an increase in the total recordable injury frequency rate from the record low achieved in (fiscal year 2023)," Salmon said. "This was partly due to the inclusion of the newly acquired Careplus facility.

"As we typically see with acquisitions, manufacturing facilities we bring into Ansell have substantially higher injury rates than our world leading standards."

Salmon said that Ansell employees and their safety are key to its continued evolution. With more than 14,000 employees worldwide, he hopes to see continued growth in fiscal year 2025 and beyond.

"In conclusion, I am very pleased with the evolution of our business and the results achieved over the course of last year and the early part of (fiscal year 2025)," he said. "And I am grateful for the very considerable efforts of our employees worldwide."