Financial results for the natural and organic food and personal care company showed that its net income fell to $41.2m for the fiscal year 2008, from $47.5m in 2007.

However, net sales increased by 17 percent, year-on-year, to $1.06bn in 2008 from $900.4m in 2007. This was despite what it described as a “challenging economy and commodity and other inflationary pressure”.

Irwin D Simon, president and chief executive officer of Hain Celestial, said: “We are seeing indications that consumers have prioritized leading a healthy lifestyle, despite the challenging economy and inflationary pressures.

“We see continued expansion of our personal care products as well, as food products are not unique to the healthy lifestyle.”

In the fourth quarter up to June 30, 2008, net income was almost halved to $6.5m from $12.1m in the same quarter in 2007. Net sales for the quarter grew 25 percent to $278.3m, from $222.3m in 2007.

Simon added that the results were driven by the successful introduction of new products, continued contribution from existing brands, and a sharp focus on improving “productivity, expense efficiency and pricing”.

In personal care, Hain Celestial combined the operations of Avalon, Alba, JASON, Zia and Queen Helene in the latest fiscal year to improve efficiency and achieve productivity gains.

However, the cost of implementation negatively affected profits in this year’s financial results

Looking across the brands in personal care Simon said Avalon Organics and Alba Botanica were strong performers in the US. Both brands were acquired from North Castle Partners in 2006 for $120m.