Nutrition player Glanbia eyes cosmetics market

"Our name is in nutritional ingredients but we are now increasing our footprint in the cosmetics market, using the beauty from within trend as a bridge," said Kevin Thomson, Glanbia Nutritionals director of business development.

Thomson spoke to CosmeticsDesign on the first day of the two day show, held in Edison New Jersey, to highlight its latest innovations.

Glanbia markets a range of ingredients targeting the health and well-being and nutritional supplements category, but as a natural extension of this it has more recently moved in on the beauty from within trend.

Tapping in to beauty from within One example of this its flaxseed-based range of ingredients, which is produced by Pizzey's Nutrionals, a subsidiary of Glanbia.

This ingredient, which is marketed under the company's MeadowPure brand, is said to enhance the natural vibrancy of hair and skin when taken either in supplement form or as an ingredient in food products.

As a natural progression that builds on this offering to the beauty arena, the company has unveiled a series of targeted topical cosmetics ingredients over the last few months.

Recent launch of Olivactiv This has culminated in the most recent launch, Olivactiv, which is a potent antioxidant targeting two of the industry's biggest current trends: anti-aging and naturals.

Being extracted from olives earns the ingredient a solid claim in the naturals field, but likewise it is also said to contain more than 30 percent polyphenol hydroxtyrosol, currently one of the most powerful natural antioxidants to have been discovered.

"Ultimately the effect of this ingredient is that it has a positive impact on skin health by exerting a free radical scavenging effect that helps to prevent oxidative damage, one of the biggest causes of skin aging," said Thomson.

Earlier this year the company launched two other ingredients for the personal care market: Bioferrin, a hyaluronic acid targeted at maintaining skin moisturizer and Glovon, a natural antimicrobial composed of fat fractions and protein.

Launches build on a strong 2007 Glanbia announced its 2007 financial results in March, revealing that it had profited from higher dairy prices in 2007 to report a year of impressive growth, with the impact particularly shining through in its value-added ingredients and nutritional premix activities.

The ingredients and nutrionals division reported an increase in sales of 30 per cent compared to 2006, of €1.4bn ($2.2bn), and pre-exceptional operating profit up a massive 93 per cent to €85m. The margin grew from 4.1 per cent to 6.1 per cent.

This result came against a backdrop of a 19 per cent increase in revenue for the group as a whole, to €2.2bn, operating profit up 35 per cent to €115.8m, and an operating margin of 5.2 per cent (from 4.6 per cent).