Henkel Raises 2021 Sales Outlook After 1st Half Profit, Sales Rose

   By Ed Frankl 
 

Henkel AG & Co. on Thursday said first-half sales ticked up as industrial demand rebounded, and raised its full-year sales guidance.

The German chemicals and consumer-goods company posted first-half earnings before interest and taxes of 1.30 billion euros ($1.53 billion) compared with EUR1.09 billion a year earlier.

The maker of Persil and Schwarzkopf said adjusted operating profit rose to EUR1.43 billion from EUR1.19 billion a year earlier.

Sales for the six months to the end of June were EUR9.93 billion. For the second quarter, organic sales growth was 15% at EUR4.96 billion.

The company's industrial adhesive technologies unit achieved strongest sales growth in 1H, though in Henkel's consumer-goods business, sales were below the level of the prior-year period, the company said.

Henkel raised its outlook for 2021 organic sales growth to between 6% and 8% from previous guidance of 4%-6%.

The company said that despite it continuing to be affected by the coronavirus, sales exceeded pre-pandemic levels of 2019 adjusted for currency effects. However, it said raw-material cost inflation was an increasing headwind, and rising prices and strained supply chains will weigh heavily on the economy for the rest of the year.

Henkel also updated its 2021 EBIT-margin guidance to 13.5%-14.5% from 14.0%-15.0% previously, and kept its earnings per share outlook at an increase in the high single-digit to mid-teen-percentage range at constant exchange rates.

Write to Ed Frankl at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 12, 2021 02:25 ET (06:25 GMT)

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