Henkel, the maker of products such as Persil washing powder, Loctite glue and Schwarzkopf haircare, has suffered a heavy fall in first-half sales and profits after the coronavirus lockdown impacted demand for some of its products.
Over the six months to 30 June, the global FMCG giant saw its sales slide 5.2% on organic basis to €9.49bn, with operating profit plummeting 27.5% to €1.19bn.
Results were impacted by a difficult second quarter period when most lockdowns across the world were in place. Organic sales during this time were down 9.4% with Western Europe and the Americas the worst affected markets.
Sales in its beauty care business were hit by the temporary closure of hair salons, whilst demand for its adhesives eased as industries slowed their operations. However, Henkel’s laundry & home care unit saw “very strong development”, which was supported by a surge in demand for its cleaning products.
Henkel’s CEO Carsten Knobel stated it was an “overall robust performance in an exceptionally challenging environment.”
The company revealed back in March that it was planning to sell or discontinue some underperforming brands in response to flatlining sales and a string of profit warnings in recent years. The group also stated it was on the lookout for acquisition opportunities.
Knobel said today: “As we are managing the current crisis, we remain fully dedicated to our ambitious growth agenda for the coming years. We started first initiatives in line with our new strategic framework and will continue to actively drive the implementation of our agenda for purposeful growth.”
Earlier this week, Henkel acquired a 75% stake in Invincible Brands, a business comprising of three direct-to-consumer (DTC) cosmetics & beauty brands.
Knobel said the business could not provide an outlook for the full year due to the continued uncertainties.
