Henkel sales rise as it "confidently" lifts guidance

Henkel, the owner of Schwarzkopf, has reported a 4.9% increase in sales to £9.3 billion (€10.9 billion) for the first half of the year.

The group's consumer brands division saw sales rise 5.7% to £4.5 billion (€5.3 billion), driven by its laundry, home and hair businesses.

In particular, the hair business achieved overall sales growth of 7.9%.

Sales growth in Europe and North America reached 2.4% and 3.8%, respectively. However, sales dropped 2.7% in Asia-Pacific, mainly due to the challenging market environment in China.

Adjusted operating profit rose 7.6% to £1 billion (€1.2 billion), supported by the development of selling prices, savings from the creation of the integrated consumer brands division and portfolio optimisation measures.

Looking ahead, Henkel now expects sales growth between 2.5-4.5% for the full year, up from 1-3% previously.

Carsten Knobel, CEO of Henkel, said: "We succeeded in significantly improving our earnings despite the continuing headwinds from high material and logistic prices. We also made good progress in implementing our strategic growth agenda in the first six months of the year.

"In the consumer brands business unit, we are advancing the integration faster than planned. At the same time, we are consistently sharpening our portfolio towards high-margin and high-growth brands and products. This is also reflected in the earnings of the business unit.

"Following the strong performance in the first half of the year, we are confident for the remainder of the year and have significantly raised our full-year guidance for sales and earnings."