Natura hopes to increase productivity in 2019 with advancement in scanning, says CEO

Natura starts the year with a positive Outlook and focused to consolidate your sales model, while increasing the productivity of consultancies with scanning operations, said Friday the manufacturer of cosmetics. "We still have a long way to go (when scanning services), but productivity must continue to grow as our consultants adopt the platform," said the ceo of Natura, João Paulo Ferreira, in teleconference with analysts and investors about the swing. The day before, the company announced 48,7% high in the net income for the fourth quarter, to 381.7 million reais, benefited by improving operational efficiencies, lower costs and lower rate of income tax. Fernandez pointed out that Natura already has 200 stores opened by consultants and hopes to accelerate the pace of openings within that model in the coming months. And the company also has plans to open more stores in shopping malls, he added. According to him, the categories of products which more has been gaining market share are perfumes and body care products (body care). In relation to The Body Shop, acquired by the Brazilian group in 2017, the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Natura, Roberto de Oliveira Marques, stated that the process of organizational transformation is well underway. The closure of the brand stores impacted the overall performance of The Body Shop's sales last year and, as the Chief Financial Officer and investor relations officer of Natura, José Filippo, there's still more units to be closed this year. At 11:00 (GMT), shares of Natura rose more than 4%, quoted at 48.87 reais, figuring among the gainers of Ibovespa, which progressed 0,29%.