Orkla divests laundry business
Orkla Care has entered into an agreement to sell Lilleborg's professional laundry business to the Belgian company Christeyns, which offers hygiene and cleaning products and services.
The reason for the divestment is that the laundry business lies outside Lilleborg's strategic priorities.
"The laundry business is a small and complex part of Lilleborg, and we want to concentrate our management resources and capital on other areas that are better aligned with our strategy. With Christeyns as owners, the laundry business will be part of a company with competent specialist expertise that will provide a good platform for further development," says Stig Ebert Nilssen, Orkla SVP and CEO of Orkla Care.
The business supplies chemicals, dosing equipment, textiles and other products to professional laundries in Norway. The sale is a transfer of business, entailing the sale of inventories, certain brands and a domain name. It also includes a licensing agreement for Lilleborg-owned products, and a supply agreement for products not owned by Lilleborg. Six employees will remain with the business following the change of ownership.
The business that is being transferred reported turnover of NOK 37 million in 2016.
The agreement is expected to be completed in the autumn of 2017. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
About Orkla
Orkla is a leading supplier of branded consumer goods and concept solutions to the grocery, out-of-home and bakery markets in the Nordics, Baltics and selected markets in Central Europe and India. Orkla is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and its head office is in Oslo. In 2016, the Group had a turnover of approximately NOK 38 billion, and 18,000 employees at year end.
Orkla Care
The two largest business units are Orkla Home & Personal Care, which holds leading positions in the personal care and cleaning segments, and Orkla Health, which holds leading positions in the dietary supplements, sports nutrition and weight control segments. Orkla Care also has leading positions in painting tool (Orkla House Care), wound care (Orkla Wound Care), basic garments sold through the grocery channel (Pierre Robert Group) and professional cleaning segments (Lilleborg).
Orkla ASA
Oslo, 4 July 2017
Ref.:
IR & Communications Manager
Elise Heidenreich
Tel.: +47 951 41 147
E-mail: elise.andersen.heidenreich@orkla.no