Cosmetics giant Shanghai Jahwa posts quarterly gains

China's homegrown and leading cosmetics group, Shanghai Jahwa United Co Ltd, posted a quarterly growth rate that is almost twice the industry average, according to the company's statement released on Wednesday.

For the first quarter of 2017, the company reported revenue of 1.34 billion yuan, up by 15 percent year-on-year. The growth rate was calculated by excluding the business it partnered with Japanese consumer goods group Kao as its distributor in China. If included, the revenue was actually down by 13.04 percent year-on-year.

Jahwa terminated its five-year partnership with Kao in early 2017. Revenue generated from the partnership, close to one billion yuan in 2016, accounted for about 20 percent of Jahwa's total.

"We are confident that the one-billion-yuan gap will be soon filled," said Zhang Dongfang, Jahwa's CEO, at a teleconference media briefing on Wednesday evening.

Zhang noted that two of the major growth drivers that will help fill the gap will be Tommee Tippee, Britain's largest nursing bottle producer that Jahwa acquired last May, and the partnership it established with Chinese traditional medicine manufacturer, Zhangzhou Pien Tze Huang Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, in an attempt to tap into the oral care market.

This is the first quarterly report since Zhang stepped in as the 119-year-old company's CEO in November. The company replaced two top leaders within three years since 2013. This is also the first time the company enjoyed a two-digit growth rate from revenue generated by its own 12 brands over the past three years.