an increasingly challenging market environment, German chemicals giant Henkel continued its strong performance in the third quarter and was able to accelerate organic growth quarter by quarter in 2013."We significantly increased both earnings and profitability – with our EBIT margin exceeding 16 percent for the first time,” said Henkel CEO Kasper Rorsted. “We achieved solid organic sales growth with all our business sectors and regions contributing. The emerging markets once again showed a particularly dynamic development. However, foreign exchange effects negatively impacted reported sales.”
As a whole, Henkel reported third quarter adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of €672 million.
The group now expects an adjusted EBIT margin of about 15% for the year, up from a previous forecast of 14.5%.
Looking at the remainder of the year, Rorsted stated: “The economic environment will remain difficult. Therefore we will continue to adapt our processes and structures in order to further improve our flexibility and efficiency in this volatile market environment.”
