PZ Cussons
PZ Cussons (Ticker: FTSE 250 – PZC) is a major British manufacturer of personal healthcare products and consumable goods, the group was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1953.
It is a business that has a rich heritage dating back over 130 years starting out in Sierra Leone, Africa. PZ Cussons business specialises in personal hygiene with Baby and Beauty products at their core.
The initials PZ comes from the two founders surnames George Zochonis and George Paterson and the Cussions came about when PZ acquired Cussons in 1975, which encompassed the Imperial Leather Brand.
In 1948 the two George’s set up the first soap factory in Nigeria. Then over the coming years added additional manufacturing sites in Ghana, Kenya, Poland, Thailand & Indonesia.
Building for the future: from the 2000’s they sought acquisitions adding quality brands like: Original Source, Charles Worthington (Hair Care), Sanctuary Spa, St Tropez (Tanning) and Australia’s leading baby food brand Rafferty’s Garden.
There are four main markets that represent the majority of the groups business: United Kingdom, Nigeria, Indonesia, Australia.
PZ view themselves as multi-local not multinational, so their core focus is on the strength within these local geographies.
With all consumable companies, high quality brands generate a good source of reoccurring revenues. We like the range of strong brands and the Cussons range of products, which is why it was selected as a permanent equity for the portfolio in 2018.
PZ Cussons Brands
Here are some of the groups best known hygiene brands: Joy, Carex, imperial Leather, Original Source, Bayleys of Bond Street & Premier Cool soap.
These are some of the groups best known beauty brands are: St Tropez, Sanctuary Spa, Charles Worthington, Fudge Professional, Venus & Fudge Urban.
Lastly, here are some of the groups best known cleaning products: Morning Fresh, Radiant, Zip, Canoe.
PZ Cussons Dividend
Dividends at PZ Cussons are generally distributed bi-annually in the months of April & November.
Payments were trimmed during the 2020 global pandemic and unfortunately again during 2024.
Twenty, twenty four’s dividend cut was mainly due to a major addressable market and the currency devaluation in Nigeria. Good news recently released in February 2025 was that like for like growth of 2% in other major markets had returned and a more stabilised situation for the group could now be back in play. It will be interesting to see the next set of results because if progress continues we will add to the current holding.
A final dividend for 2025 was announced at £0.0210 pence per share (Ex dividend – 30/10/2025)
For research purposes PZ Cussons five year historical annualised dividend have been listed below:
2025 £0.0360 pence
2024 £0.0360 pence
2023 £0.0640 pence
2022 £0.0640 pence
2021 £0.0608 pence
2020 £0.0508 pence
PZ Cussons Fundamentals:
Current P/E: 10.89 (27/11/2025)
Yield: 4.46% (27/11/2025)
Total income received over 8 years is £350.30
Further dividend analysis can be viewed in the file below:
PZC
Foot note: For those of you who have spotted the income from a 1,000 shares in 2016, this equity was initially purchased in 2015 but disposed of in 2016 purely to lock in some profit, taking advantage of some share price appreciation. I am not advocating investors do this however in the beginning some shares were sold after they reached certain price thresholds.
When starting to build a portfolio some trading can be good, ensuring you lock in those paper profits. When we re-entered PZ Cussons in 2018 we purchased 500 shares at a third off the initial cost in 2015.
Alternative Competitors
The Household and Personal Products sector is competitive and is usually referred to as FMCG sector (Fast Moving Consumer Goods). Business that operate within this category are often seen as defensive businesses. PZ Cussons does have some stiff competition within this sector so we have listed some larger and smaller rivals operating some very familiar brands under their umbrellas.
In no particular order the larger competitors are well known household names like: Unilever (ULVR), Proctor & Gamble (PG) and Henkel (HEN).
Once again in no particular order smaller businesses operating within this sector are: McBride (MCB), Warpaint London (W7L) & Creightons (CRL)
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