Essity Explained

Essity AB
Type:Aktiebolag
Traded As:,
Industry:Consumer goods
Predecessor:SCA
Hq Location City:Stockholm
Hq Location Country:Sweden
Area Served:Worldwide
Key People:Pär Boman (Chairman)Kasey Karoll (CEO)
Products:Personal Care, Consumer Tissue, Professional Hygiene
Revenue:SEKm 128,975
Revenue Year:2019
Operating Income:SEKm 14,349
Income Year:2019
Assets:SEKm 162,295
Assets Year:2019
Equity:SEKm 54,125
Equity Year:2019
Num Employees:46 000
Num Employees Year:2019
Footnotes:http://reports.essity.com/2019/annual-and-sustainability-report/essity-data/financial-multi-year-summary.html

Essity AB is a Swedish hygiene and health company, with its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. The products portfolio contains one-use products such as tissue paper, baby diapers, feminine care (menstruation pads, etc.), incontinence products, compression therapy, orthopedics and wound care. Essity was a part of the hygiene and forest products company SCA until 2017, when the company spun off the hygiene operations that became listed as a separate company on Nasdaq Stockholm.

Essity has approximately 46 000 employees and net sales in 2019 amounted to EUR 12.2 billion.[1] The name Essity stems from the words essentials and necessity.

History

Essity was formerly a part of the SCA group.[2]

SCA was founded in 1929 as a forestry company. In 1975, SCA acquired Mölnlycke AB, a western European producer of disposable hygiene products.In 1995 they acquired the German paper and packaging company PWA, Papierwerke Waldhof-Aschaffenburg.

In 2001 the division Wisconsin Tissue of the United States company Georgia-Pacific Tissue was acquired.

In 2004 SCA acquired the tissue and hygiene products businesses of Carter Holt Harvey from International Paper.

In 2007, Procter & Gamble sold their European tissue business to SCA for €512 million ($672 million).[3]

In 2007 SCA acquired its first minority share in the Asian tissue company Vinda.

In 2011, it acquired the Brazilian Pro Descart for about R$114 million, with local brands Biofral and Drybaby. Later, it invested R$242 million in a plant in Jarinu, in the interior of São Paulo, consolidating the brands TENA and Tork.

In July 2012, the acquisition of Georgia Pacific's tissue operations, including the brand Lotus, was closed. The total price amounted to €1.32 billion.

In 2013 SCA became majority shareholder in Vinda.[4]

In 2015, SCA was the largest producer of tissue paper in the world.[5]

In August 2015 it was announced that SCA's hygiene operations and forestry operations were to be divided into two different divisions. A year later, 24 August 2016, the company announced that it intended to split the SCA into two separately listed companies. In December 2016 SCA announced the acquisition of BSN Medical, a company specializing in the areas of Compression Therapy, Wound Care and Orthopaedics. The purchase price amounted to €2740 million and included brands such as Jobst, Leukoplast, Cutimed, Delta Cast and Actimove. In 2017, SCA split off Essity as a separate company, and Essity listed on the Stock Exchange in Stockholm on June 15, 2017.[6]

Brands

Competitors

Essity is amongst the top 50 largest fast-moving consumer goods companies in the world[11] and some of its competitors are Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Georgia-Pacific, Kimberly-Clark, Sofidel, Unicharm Ontex, CMPC, Santher and 3M.[12]

Sustainability messaging

Several initiatives have been launched to influence messaging around the sustainability of the Essity business model:

Criticism

Along with its supplier SCA, Essity was accused by Greenpeace of promoting unsustainable business practices aggravating global warming and mass extinction. Greenpeace claim that Essity "clearcuts some of Sweden’s last remaining old-growth forests, wiping away habitats of threatened species and endangering the livelihood of indigenous communities".[17]

In late August 2022, Essity announced their intention to sue lockedout striking workers at a paper-mill in Kawerau, New Zealand, for ~$580,000 NZD because they began their strike an hour earlier than stated.[18] The strike began in early August over a pay dispute, and involved 145 workers.[19]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Essity reports 8.8% net sales increase. Morris. Helen. 2020-01-27. Tissue World Magazine. en-US. 2020-05-25.
  2. Web site: Essity Listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. Nonwovens Industry Magazine - News, Markets & Analysis for the Nonwovens Industry. 2019-12-17.
  3. News: P&G sells European tissue unit to Sweden's SCA . . 2007-03-12 . 2018-01-09 .
  4. News: SCA to bid for control of Chinese tissue maker Vinda. 2013-09-09. Reuters. 2019-12-17. en.
  5. Web site: Is tissue becoming a safe haven for the global pulp and paper industry? Global paper and board industry is in transition.. 2015. paperindustryworld.
  6. News: SCA to become two listed companies: the forest products company SCA and the hygiene and health company Essity . SCA . 2017 . 2017-01-09 . 2017-06-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170623212148/http://www.sca.com/en/about-sca/currently-in-sca/press-releases/2017/sca-to-become-two-listed-companies-the-forest-products-company-sca-and-the-hygiene-and-health-company-essity . dead .
  7. Web site: JOBST Global. www.jobst.com.
  8. Web site: Leukoplast Global. www.leukoplast.com.
  9. Web site: Tork is part of Essity - Tork US. www.torkusa.com.
  10. News: Charmin rebrands to Cushelle. Mad.co.uk . January 25, 2010 .
  11. Web site: The 50 largest FMCG / consumer goods companies in the world. 24 September 2018. 2019-06-11.
  12. Web site: Sweden's Essity delivers on profit with price hikes, cost cuts. CNBC. 2019-06-11.
  13. Web site: Science Based Targets. 2019-06-10.
  14. Web site: Robecosam Industry Leader Report 2018. 2019-06-10.
  15. Web site: Global Commitment Signatories. New Plastic Economu. 2020-05-25.
  16. Web site: Essity Annual and Sustainability Report 2019. 2020-05-25.
  17. Web site: In pictures: the Great Northern Forest – beauty and destruction. Glienicke. Angela. 28 September 2017. Greenpeace UK. 7 January 2020.
  18. Web site: Locked-out Purex employees threatened with $500,000 fine after strike . 2022-08-30 . NZ Herald . en-NZ.
  19. Web site: Carroll . Melanie . 2022-08-29 . Purex manufacturer makes $500k legal threat against workers, union says . 2022-08-30 . Stuff . en.