Henkel Saw Growth in Both Beauty And Laundry & Home Care in Q1

Henkel AG saw its first-quarter sales for the period ended March 31, 2013 maintain with a 0.6% increase in total sales to $5.32 billion (4.03 billion euros). Net income rose 13% to $563.9 million (427 million euros), with growth in both beauty and laundry care. Operating profit climbed 8.9% to $792.4 million (600 million euros).
 
The beauty care division saw a 1.4% rise in sales to $1.15 billion (873 million euros), while laundry & home care jumped 6.3% to $1.5 billion (1.2 billion euros).

 “We increased both sales and earnings in the first quarter of 2013 despite a challenging market environment with declining markets in Western Europe and weak global industrial demand,” said Henkel CEO, Kasper Rorsted. “Both Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care outperformed their relevant markets while our Adhesives business was affected by weaker than expected demand from industrial customers. Nevertheless, we were able to substantially improve the profitability of all our business sectors.”
 
Commenting on fiscal year 2013, Rorsted said: “We expect the global economic environment to remain difficult. However, we anticipate industrial demand to improve during the second half of the year. Given the challenges in our global market environment, we will continue to further simplify and accelerate our processes in order to increase our flexibility and efficiency.”
 
Rorsted confirmed Henkel’s previously stated outlook for fiscal 2013: “We expect organic sales growth for the full fiscal year to be between 3 and 5 percent.”
 
Recent rollouts for the brand include Dial Coconut Water & Bamboo Leaf Extract soap and body wash, as well as Dial Skin Therapy with Himalayan Pink Salt and Dial 24-hour Odor Armor for Men. Right Guard also recently launched Right Guard Xtreme Fresh antiperspirant and deodorant.
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