The BWX Limited (ASX: BWX) share price is up 4.4% today and up around 19% since just Christmas Eve despite the fast-moving-consumer-goods (FMCG) company behind the Sukin brand releasing no specific news to the market since a December 20 profit downgrade.
The only potentially positive news to come out for BWX shareholders recently is a report in today's Australian Financial Review that suggests many of the court documents in a U.S. legal case where BWX is being sued for a form of breach of contract will be kept secret.
This is a potential positive as if nothing else it will save BWX and its former management team from more embarrassing accusations as to what exactly was the primary motivation behind its giant acquisitions of the Andalou Naturals and Mineral Fusion beauty product businesses in the US over 2017.
Whatever the outcome of the case it's likely to be incidental to the BWX share price over the long term as the deals are now done, which means investors now have just future profits to focus.
Currently, BWX is forecasting "normalised" EBITDA of $27 million to $32 million in FY 2019, with EBITDA of just $7 million in the first half, which suggests second half EBITDA will have to roughly triple on the first half to meet guidance.
This would be an unusual outcome for a FMCG company as demand for products like shampoo, handwash, or toothpaste tends to be reasonably consistent, however, management believe it's possible to have very lumpy earnings due to a number of "one off" factors affecting first half performance.
