Natura's profit more than doubles in the 2nd quarter, for R $66 million

Natura released on Wednesday that the second quarter profit more than doubled over a year earlier, backed by strong sales in all segments and in cost control efforts. The company had a high of 109.4% in the net income of the period over one year before, the R $66.6 million, before the average expectation of analysts R $61.7 million, according to data from Refinitiv. "All three of our brands (Natura, Aesop and The Body Shop) contributed to a good performance in the quarter," the company said on the balance sheet, adding that it hopes to conclude the acquisition of Avon at the beginning of 2020. Almost two years after buying L'Oreal's store the Body Shop network in a transaction of 1 billion euros, Natura closed in May to acquire Avon, creating the fourth largest cosmetics group in the world. In the quarter ended in June, Natura had net revenues of R $3.4 billion, 9.8% higher than one year earlier. The profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew 27%, to R $424.7 million. Analysts, on average, expected EBITDA of R $374.3 million, according to Refinitiv. The company closed the semester with net debt of R $5.53 billion against R $5.71 billion a year earlier. With this, the leverage ratio fell from 3.3 times to 2.83 times. This year, Natura's shares accumulate a 43% appreciation.