Jakarta. Cosmetics giant Mustika Ratu, or MRAT, has recently announced a net sales of Rp 176.3 billion, or about $12.3 million, in the first semester of 2021 — a 23.2 percent jump compared to the same period last year.

"This is thanks to our new products which have successfuly penetrated the medical channels among others," MRAT finance, human resources, and corporation director Jodi Andrea Suryokusumo told a virtual public expose on Friday.

Covid-19 prompted MRAT to begin producing pandemic essentials such as hand sanitizers and health supplement Herbamuno+. And the company's decision to spread its wings to the healthcare business bore fruits.

At the conference, MRAT attributed the net sales growth in the first half of 2021 to the healthcare line, whose sales soared by 276.7 percent. The beauty product line also contributed to the growth, as its sales also rose by 51.5 percent.

MRAT's gross profit throughout 2021's first half reached Rp 95.9 billion, up by 7.2 percent from the 2020's first half.

"Gross profit grew because we have improved the efficiency at our plants," Jodi said.

According to Jodi, MRAT booked an operating profit of Rp 6.87 billion in the first half of 2021. This was a 8.4 percent increase compared to the same period last year. The company also recorded Rp 2.26 billion of profit for the year.

"[The profit for the year] surged by 55.9 percent, in comparison to the first semester of 2020,” Jodi said.

This achievement heaped praise from MRAT president commissioner Djoko Ramiadji.

"The board of commissioners fully support the management in their strategic decision-making throughout 2020, which had resulted in greater performance," Djoko said, as quoted from a statement.

"The company has also done a number of strategic efforts in maintaining its market amid the Covid-19 pandemic, among them is to split the sales and marketing into two [that is specifically assigned] for beauty and healthcare. This is in a bid to maximize sales," Djoko added.

And throughout last year, the board of directors carried out effective and efficient management reforms, which also impacted on the company's performance.

"Since 2020, the company has been innovating by diversifying products and launching the latest product innovations, namely hand sanitizer and Herbamuno+ herbal supplements [via the healthcare division]. The company's success in carrying out 4.0 transformation has led to the sales increase. This was shown in how the new products were able to significantly increase the company's net sales," MRAT president director Bingar Egidius Situmorang said.

Go Global, Go Digital

Moving forward, MRAT is eyeing to expand its export markets. As of now, the beauty giant has 20 export destinations.

"We will further intensify our export market expansion, particularly for our natural healthcare products. They bear a huge potential, especially the herbs and spices. We will do so for the US, Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe," Kusuma Anjani, the business development and innovation director at MRAT, said.

At the conference, MRAT also unveiled its plans to ramp up its use of digital platforms.

"As we transform digitally, particularly with the [makeup line] Beauty Queen series, we will hold more beauty classes by teaming up with prominent make-up artists. We will work alongside key opinion leaders [KOL] and our brand ambassador to communicate this product so it can reach various groups," Jodi said.

"We will also hold online activities starting from webinars to TikTok challenges to boost our e-commerce sales," he added.

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