After two years in office, Miguel Fernandez, CEO of US household product manufacturer Tupperware Brands (Orlando, Florida; www.tupperware.com), says he is dissatisfied with the company’s performance. When presenting H1 figures for 2022, the former group board member appointed to implement the urgently needed turnaround had to acknowledge the clear decline in both sales and results.

Tupperware revenues in Q2 2022 declined 18% to USD 340.4 mn (EUR 338.5 mn). The operating result went down by two-thirds to just under USD 25 mn and profit just missed falling into the red at USD 1.2 mn. It had been USD 35 mn in the same period last year.

Changes in consumer behaviour in Europe were one major reason for the negative development. Added to this were the lockdowns in China. In terms of revenue, both Asia and Europe had been almost on a par with the company’s home market of North America during this same quarter last year. There too, however, business shrank by 15%, although this bears no comparison to the reduction of 38% experienced in Europe and 21% in Asia, particularly since these declines gathered pace in the second quarter. Only South America was able to report an increase of 13%, albeit at a considerably lower level.

With strict cost control and new sales channels, encouraging signals were emerging in a number of markets, Fernandez explained. Despite this, the group is now parting with the cosmetics businesses it purchased as a second mainstay at the start of the 2000s – possibly also in order to pay off its USD 1.27 mn debt.

CFO Mariela Matute reports that Fuller Cosmetics and Nutrimetics were already sold a few weeks ago and Nuvo is to follow. “We want to concentrate on our core business again,” she said, while presenting the first-half figures. This change in strategy will have a “significant impact” on the company’s results.

The Strategic Global Sourcing and Supply Chain Center that has been operating in Singapore since the start of 2022 should help the group optimise purchasing at the eleven plants worldwide and enable it to respond more precisely to customers’ wishes with new products. Not only is the supplier base to be broadened, but growth “beyond the kitchen” is also to be initiated, says COO Sandra Harris; no further details on the same were provided.

One way in which the company is attempting to score points is through the use of Eastman Tritan Renew copolyester, with a recycling content of up to 50%, for its transparent containers in the Eco+ series.