Henkel Announces 2020 Outlook

Henkel delivered mixed business performance in 2019 and announced its outlook for 2020.

Henkel CEO Carsten Knobel stated: "At the beginning of 2019, we announced our plan to increase growth investments by around EUR 300 million annually for 2019 and beyond in order to strengthen our brands, technologies and innovations and to accelerate Henkel's digital transformation. At the same time, we continued our investments in the expansion and improvement of production facilities and innovation centers. We also strengthened our various business units through targeted acquisitions and partnerships valued at approximately EUR 600 million."

Outlook for 2020

Henkel expects organic sales growth of between 0 and 2 percent in 2020. The earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margin is expected to reach around 15 percent, while earnings per preferred share (EPS) is projected to decline at a mid to upper single-digit percentage rate at constant exchange rates. Sales and Earnings Performance in 2019 Financial Year In the 2019 financial year, sales rose nominally by 1.1 percent to EUR 20.114 billion. Currency effects had a positive impact of 0.6 percent on sales growth. When currency effects are taken into account, sales growth reached 0.5 percent. The contribution from acquisitions and disposals was 0.5 percent. Organic sales growth, adjusted for currency effects and acquisitions and disposals, remained unchanged at 0.0 percent.