German consumer goods giant Henkel has reported record sales and profits for 2012.
The owner of the Persil and Schwarzkopf brands saw growth in all three of its major sectors: laundry & home care, beauty, and adhesives.
Full-year sales rose 5.8%, with Henkel’s adjusted operating profit rising 15.1% to €2.34bn. Fourth-quarter sales rose 5.3% year-on-year, driving profits up 8.4% to €544m.
“2012 was the most successful year for Henkel so far: we achieved excellent results in a highly volatile and competitive market environment and met or exceeded all financial targets,” said Henkel CEO Kasper Rorsted.
The laundry and homecare division achieved organic sales growth of 4.7% in 2012, while beauty sales rose 3.1%. Sales in it’s adhesive technologies branch, which includes brands such as Unibond and Sellotape, broke the €8bn mark for the first time, growing 3.6%.
Henkel said it is targeting organic sales growth of 3 to 5% in 2013.
The company said it would continue to improve its production and logistics networks in a bid to keep a lid on costs.
“The strong dynamics and high volatility in our markets will persist,” said Rorsted. “Although Henkel is well positioned, we will continue to further simplify and improve our processes in order to respond to changes faster than our competition.”
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