Henkel recovery continues through third quarter

11 Nov '09

3 min read

“In the third quarter, we were again able to continue our positive performance of recent quarters”, says Kasper Rorsted, Chairman of the Henkel Management Board.

“We achieved excellent results at Laundry & Home Care, and our Cosmetics/Toiletries business sector was also able to once again exceed the very good performance of the previous quarters. There was also a further improvement in the results of the Adhesive Technologies business sector in the course of the year, albeit on a lower level than in the previous year.” Rorsted continued: “The encouraging results registered in this last quarter reflect both the stabilization in our markets and our programs on structural and cost alignment.”

In the third quarter of 2009, Henkel generated sales of 3,485 million euros. In a still difficult market environment, this represents a decrease of 7.3 percent compared to the figure for the prior-year quarter. In organic terms, i.e. after adjusting for foreign exchange and acquisitions/divestments, sales showed another improvement compared to the first two quarters of this year, coming in just 2.5 percent below the level of the third quarter of 2008. However, performance of the company's three business sectors continued to show a very mixed picture. Laundry & Home Care again performed well,posting an increase in organic sales of 2.4 percent.

Cosmetics/Toiletries saw organic sales rise by 3.7 percent, again outstripping the already very good figures of recent quarters.Due to the volume decline encountered in major customer industries, Adhesive Technologies registered a decrease in organic sales of 7.6 percent. Compared to the second quarter, however, the drop in organic sales has halved. Due primarily to the burden of restructuring charges on the results of the prior-year quarter, operating profit increased by 51.8 percent, from 191 million euros to 290 million euros. After adjusting for one-time gains and charges and restructuring charges totaling 95 million euros, adjusted operating profit decreased slightly by 1.5 percent, from 391 million euros to 385 million euros.

Return on sales was 8.3 percent, while adjusted return on sales increased from 10.4 percent to 11.0 percent. The investment result fell from 24 million euros to 0 million euros due to the sale of the company's stake in Ecolab in November 2008. Net interest expense improved by 32 million euros, from –72 million euros to –40 million euros, largely attributable to lower interest rates compared to the previous year. Consequently, the financial result improved from –48 million euros to –40 million euros. The tax rate amounted to 28.0 percent.

Due to the increased, net earnings for the quarter rose by 68.2 percent, from 107 million euros to 180 million euros. After deducting minority interests of 8 million euros, quarterly net earnings totaled 172 million euros compared to 101 million euros in the third quarter of 2008. Adjusted quarterly net earnings after minority interests amounted to 240 million euros versus 251 million

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