Germany: Henkel makes “good start” to 2014

Household care and health & beauty company Henkel has reported a “good start” to 2014 with organic growth up 4.3% for the first quarter.

The manufacturer of brands including Schwarzkopf and Persil revealed that results in its growth regions had been particularly strong, with organic sales up 8.3%. However unfavourable currency effects saw total sales value drop back by -2.6% to €3.93 billion ($5.39 billion).

“In a difficult market environment Henkel has made a good start to the 2014 financial year”, commented CEO Kasper Rorsted. “All of our businesses saw organic sales growth and improved their profitability.

“Once again our growth markets recorded a particularly strong performance, but even in our developed markets we saw signs of growth”, he continued. “Negative currency effects were however apparent when comparing our results with the previous year”.

The company reaffirmed its guidance for 2014. “We expect organic growth between 3 and 5% for the 2014 financial year”, Mr Rorsted concluded.

Source: Henkel