Manchester-based soaps and consumer products company PZ Cussons said on Thursday it agreed to sell its Greek food subsidiary Minerva and its Polish personal care brand Luksja “in line with the company’s newly stated strategic direction.”

In a stock exchange statement, PZ Cussons said: “PZ Cussons has exchanged contracts for the sale of 100% of the share capital of its Greek subsidiary, Minerva S.A. Edible Oils and Food Enterprises to Mirties Enterprises Company Limited, a company controlled by Diorama Investments SICAR SA, a Luxembourg investment company … 

“Minerva is being sold for a consideration of £41.0 million in cash …

“Founded in 1904, Minerva was the first company to sell branded packaged olive oil in Greece …”

Cussons added: “On 12 August, PZ Cussons also exchanged contracts for the sale of Polish personal care brand, Luksja, together with all associated inventory, to Athens based personal care company, Sarantis Group …

“PZ Cussons and Sarantis have also agreed to enter into a distribution agreement whereby Sarantis will distribute certain PZ Cussons’ core brands (which include Carex, Original Source and Morning Fresh) in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe …”

PZ Cussons CEO Alex Kanellis said: “The proposed sale of Minerva and Luksja forms part of PZ Cussons’ new strategy to ‘Focus, Scale and Accelerate’, announced along with our final FY19 results on 23 July 2019.

“We are streamlining the group to focus investment on core Personal Care and Beauty brands to deliver higher margin earnings, in geographies that can scale, with the aim of returning the group to sustainable, profitable growth. 

“The sale of Minerva provides additional proceeds to continue to drive our strategy forward …”