Henkel’s first quarter turnover and profit both grew a lot. It also achieved a nice feat: for the first time ever, the German trade group surpassed the 5 billion euro turnover milestone.
“Strong result despite challenging market”
“Henkel delivered a strong performance in the first quarter in a highly challenging market environment”, a satisfied CEO Hans van Bylen said. Its turnover grew 13.6 % to 5.064 billion euro, with autonomous turnover growth at 4 % for the manufacturer of Persil (laundry detergent), Pritt (glue), Fa (hygiene) and Schwarzkopf (shampoo). The emerging markets are still the main reason for the company’s growth, with a 6.7 % autonomous turnover growth. Its operational profit (EBIT) also grew 13.8 % to 854 million euro.
Even though the Belgian CEO warned for “an uncertain market environment, continued currency fluctuations, more expensive commodities and higher costs”, he maintained the company’s full-year forecast: a 2 to 4 % autonomous turnover growth, an EBIT margin of 17 % or better and a 7 to 9 % profit increase per preferred share.
In the past quarter, Henkel acquired Darex Packaging Technologies’ global activities from GCP Applied Technologies and struck a deal to acquire Mexican haircare product manufacturer Nattura Laboratorios. Only last year, it acquired laundry brand Sun (for 3.6 billion euro) and the Germans seem determined to make their mark on the American markets, dominated by Procter & Gamble and British-Dutch Unilever.
