Henkel Records 4.2% Organic Sales Growth for Q3 2013

Henkel reported a strong performance for the third quarter of 2013, with organic sales growth of 4.2%. However, sales were impacted by foreign exchange effects, coming in at €4.184 billion, a drop of 2.6%. Adjusted operating profit did rise 6.5% to €672 million, and the company also recorded very strong organic sales growth in emerging markets.

“Despite an increasingly challenging market environment, Henkel continued its strong performance in the third quarter and was able to accelerate organic growth quarter by quarter in 2013. We significantly increased both earnings and profitability, with our EBIT margin exceeding 16% for the first time,” said Henkel CEO Kasper Rorsted. “We achieved solid organic sales growth with all our business sectors and regions contributing. The emerging markets once again showed a particularly dynamic development. However, foreign exchange effects negatively impacted reported sales.”

Looking at the remainder of the year, Rorsted stated, “The economic environment will remain difficult. Therefore we will continue to adapt our processes and structures in order to further improve our flexibility and efficiency in this volatile market environment. As previously stated, we expect organic sales growth to be between 3–5% in the full fiscal year and adjusted earnings per preferred share (EPS) to increase by about 10%. For our adjusted EBIT margin, we are raising our forecast from about 14.5% to about 15%.”

Henkel generated sales of €4.184 billion euros in the third quarter of 2013. This was below the prior-year figure due to negative foreign exchange effects amounting to 6.7%. Nominally, sales decreased by 2.6%. Organic sales growth, which excludes the impact of foreign exchange and acquisitions/divestments, reached solid 4.2%, with all business sectors contributing. For its part, Henkel's beauty care division achieved a solid organic growth rate of 3.1%.

Find more information on Henkel's Q3 2013 financial report here.

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