Household cleaner Pental — unharmed though irked by a recent legal challenge from the competition regulator — presented squeaky clean results today.

The household chemicals and cleaning products maker said net profit after tax was up 3.8 per cent to $5.85 million this year. Cash in bank stood at $11.7 million.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) last year accused Pental (ASX:PTL) of making false or misleading representations around its White King Flushable Wipes, which did not, in fact, disintegrate like toilet paper.

The case is continuing.

Pental has paid $160,000 towards court costs so far and removed the claims from packaging in 2016.

“There is currently no legal standard for flushability and therefore there is an inherent degree of ambiguity about the meaning of that term, and that the product is biodegradable,” the company said.

The company is clearly irked that it appears to be the ACCC’s focus for mislabelled sanitation products, perhaps having missed the July case launched against Aldi for the same infringement.

Australian Water Association chief Jonathan McKeown told Stockhead flushable wipes “are creating a really big problem for all major urban centres”.

“The expense of getting them cleared is way over any benefit from those products. Consumers need to know that they cause very significant problems.”

Pental’s results show that Australians and New Zealanders are still buying bleach and indeed, still have a need for lighters.

A bleach plant breakdown did cause shortages in the second half however, and about $500,000 in losses.

It’s also yet another Australian company targeting the Chinese market, with that country backstopping Asian sales of $1.8 million.

Pental was up 3.3 per cent to 62c today in early trade.

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