Today, Henkel released its the first half of 2024 financial report. It reveals solid performance amid a challenging market environment. The company achieved Group sales of €10.8 billion, reflecting a nominal decrease of 1.0 percent compared to the previous year. However, Henkel saw a return to nominal sales growth in the second quarter, with sales reaching €5.5 billion, marking a 3.4 percent increase. This improvement follows the negative impact of the divestment of its Russian business activities in 2023.
Foreign exchange effects slightly reduced overall sales by 1.9 percent, while acquisitions and divestments, including the sale of the Russian business and recent acquisitions like Seal for Life and Vidal Sassoon, had a mixed impact on the figures. Despite these challenges, Henkel achieved a 2.9 percent organic sales growth in the first half of the year, underscoring the company’s resilience and ability to adapt to market conditions.
Henkel’s CEO, Carsten Knobel, highlighted the success of strategic measures and initiatives, particularly the merger of the consumer businesses and the restructuring of the adhesives business. These efforts have led to a notable improvement in sales, gross margin, and earnings, along with strong free cash flow, which surpassed the high level of the first half of 2023. Henkel plans to continue investing in brands, technologies, and innovations, while also focusing on sustainability and digitalization to strengthen its competitive position.
Looking ahead, Henkel has raised its earnings outlook for fiscal 2024, driven by strong performance in the Consumer Brands business unit. The company now expects organic sales growth of 2.5 to 4.5 percent at the Group level. The Consumer Brands unit is expected to achieve an adjusted return on sales between 13.0 and 14.0 percent, up from the previous estimate of 12.0 to 13.0 percent.
Regionally, Henkel’s organic sales growth varied, with significant double-digit growth in the IMEA region (21.0 percent) and positive trends in the Asia/Pacific region (5.5 percent). However, North America saw a slight decline of 1.6 percent, while Latin America remained flat. Despite these regional variations, Henkel remains optimistic about its growth prospects for the remainder of the year and is confident in achieving its mid-term financial targets.
