Aussie health supplements company Blackmores to cut jobs as profit plummets 66 pct

File photo taken on Aug. 29, 2019 shows a staff member shelving products at the Blackmores factory in Sydney, Australia. The Australian health supplements company Blackmores on Tuesday reported a 66 percent slump in full-year profit and will cut about 10 percent of its workforce as the company battled the disruption from COVID-19 pandemic. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)

SYDNEY, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Australian health supplements company Blackmores on Tuesday reported a 66 percent slump in full-year profit and will cut about 10 percent of its workforce as the company battled the disruption from COVID-19 pandemic.

"It is expected that as a result of the organizational redesign there will be a reduction of approximately 10 percent of our workforce and partly offset by investment in roles in Asia and strategic priorities across the group," Chief executive Alastair Symington said.

The total revenue also dropped 3 percent to 568 million Australian dollars (around 409 million U.S. dollars) for the financial year from July 2019 to June 2020, with total revenue from China down 16 percent.

"In Australia and New Zealand, we were faced with the impact of lower sales from Chinese led demand," he said.

According to him, demand for Australian vitamin and dietary supplement products from Chinese shoppers accounted for 24 percent of Australian retail sales in 2019, which dropped 16 percent in the first half of 2020 as travelers to and from China stopped visiting Australia due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The increase in domestic consumption was not enough to offset this volume loss, which resulted in a 15 percent decrease in net sales to 227 million Australian dollars (around 163 million U.S. dollars) for the full year."

The slump of profit came after Blackmores bought a factory in Melbourne last year for 43 million Australian dollars (about 30 million U.S. dollars ) in an attempt to manufacture its products themselves.

"Our full year results today reflect the anticipated transition to a vertically integrated business. However, this comes with a higher operating cost structure in the short term." Symington said.