After posting record year-end results, Nivea maker Beiersdorf said yesterday that it was expecting a slowdown in sales growth in 2024 as it reins in price increases and consumer demand softens.
The German group saw its organic sales climb 10.8% to €9.5bn over the 12 months to 31 December 2023. This was driven by its main Consumer division, which grew 12.5% to €7.8bn.
The unit experienced strong growth across its Nivea (+16.2%), Derma (24.0%), and Healthcare (+4.2%) operations. This was partly offset by challenges faced by its luxury La Prairie (-15.4%) and Chantecaille (-18.4%) brands in the travel retail sector and in China.
Meanwhile, Beiersdorf’s tesa division saw sales increase 3.2% to €1.7bn in a “challenging business environment”.
Despite raised investment levels, the group’s operating profit increased from €1.16bn to €1.27bn, with margins up from 13.2% to 13.4%.
Looking ahead, Beiersdorf cautioned that its sales growth would slow to a mid-single-digit percentage this year. It sees more moderate growth in its Consumer unit as it targets “more reasonable” price increases compared to 2023, while still anticipating high commodity expenses and inflation rates alongside stretched consumer budgets.
Vincent Warnery, CEO of Beiersdorf, commented: “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.”
He added: “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.”
