Nivea drives record annual sales at Beiersdorf

Beiersdorf-owned skincare brand Nivea has surpassed €5 billion in sales for the first time in its 113-year history.

It comes as the German group achieves record sales growth of 10.8% to £8.1 billion (€9.5 billion) for the full year.

As part of this, the consumer business segment saw sales increase 12.5% to £6.6 billion (€7.8 billion), helped by the balance between volume and pricing as well as efficient cost management.

It also reflects the continued success of e-commerce, which is said to have outperformed the market in 2023 and grew by 19%.

Nivea posted a record year with sales up 16.2% to £4.4 billion (€5.2 billion), driven by double-digit growth in all regions and categories.

Meanwhile, derma brands Eucerin and Aquaphor reported sales growth of 24%, with particular success across the sun care category.

However, La Prairie and Chantecaille faced a "difficult market environment" across travel retail and in mainland China. This caused a decline in organic sales for both brands, resulting in a fall of 15.4% for La Prairie and 18.4% for Chantecaille.

"The market circumstances led to the timely decision to utilise 2023 as a transition year to clean up stocks and normalise inventory levels for both brands," reads a statement from Beiersdorf.

"Beiersdorf now looks to return to growth with La Prairie and Chantecaille in 2024 through healthy stock levels, product innovations, an enhanced social commerce set-up and the expansion of the travel retail business."

Looking ahead, the group expects to achieve above-market sales growth for the full year 2024. The consumer business segment is also expected to generate mid-single-digit sales growth.

Vincent Warnery, CEO of Beiersdorf: "We continued our remarkable growth trajectory of recent years, again achieving double-digit organic sales growth in a difficult market environment. We were the fastest-growing beauty company worldwide in 2023 and we kept our promise of profitable growth.

"Nivea delivered impressive levels of growth across all regions and categories, leading to record sales of over €5 billion. The strategic recalibration of Nivea's operating model toward a more globalised and digital approach is producing the desired results and laying the foundation for continued growth.

"2023 was also a year marked by substantial strategic investments in our digital and physical infrastructure, our innovative strength, our sustainability progress, and in our people. These steps will ensure that we can deliver continued strong growth in the future."