(Yicai Global) April 23 -- Jahwa United's share price climbed to a three-month high this morning after the Chinese maker of Liushen, Maxam, and Herborist personal care products said that it has appointed a new chair, a former Mattel China general manager, on the heels of lackluster first-quarter earnings.

Jahwa's stock price [SHA: 600315] jumped by 10 percent to CNY30.58 (USD4.32) this morning, the highest reading since Jan. 17.

Alex Pan, who before Mattel used to serve as L'Oreal's Asia-Pacific GM commercial, has taken over from Zhang Dongfang who resigned for personal reasons, the Shanghai-based firm said in a statement yesterday. Zhang will continue advising Jahwa as its chief consultant after letting go of her duties as chief executive and GM on May 5.

Jahwa's new profit fell by 49 percent to CNY119 million (USD16.8 million) in the first quarter from a year earlier due to the Covid-19 epidemic as offline sales and e-commerce logistics slowed down, according to its earnings report published yesterday before the new appointment. Its revenue declined by 15 percent to CNY1.7 billion (USD235 million).

"The [leadership change] should be a positive signal of Jahwa United's strategic transformation and upgrade," Zhu Danpeng, an independent analyst in the fast-moving consumer goods industry, told Yicai Global.

"L'Oreal's consumer products division went through a strategic shift under Pan's leadership. Earth-shaking changes will happen to the firm if he can replicate such experience for Jahwa and drive the firm's international, high-end, and trend-oriented transformation," Zhu added.

Jahwa was once one of the most profitable companies in China's daily chemicals sector. In 2011, China Ping An Insurance's investment arm purchased a majority stake in the firm. Zhang started to lead the detergents and cosmetics company in 2016.

Editor: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine