GERMANY’S Henkel said on Tuesday (Mar 7) that it expects slower industrial and consumer demand to curtail sales growth this year, following 2022, when price increases helped organic sales to jump 8.8 per cent.

The consumer goods company forecast organic sales to grow by between 1 per cent and 3 per cent from the 22.39 billion euros (S$32.1 billion) reached in 2022.

Despite the increase in sales, Henkel posted a 13.7 per cent drop in adjusted earnings before interest and tax (Ebit) to 2.3 billion euros in 2022, largely due to higher materials prices and logistics costs, as well as rising energy prices.

The maker of Persil detergents and Schwarzkopf haircare products said it would focus on efficiency this year, and aims to increase adjusted return on sales to 10 per cent to 12 per cent, from 8.1 per cent in 2022.

Henkel said it plans to propose an unchanged dividend of 1.85 euros per preferred share, and 1.83 euros per ordinary share for 2022.

Chief executive Carsten Knobel merged the ailing cosmetics business with the detergents division last year, in an effort to grow the business and cut costs. REUTERS

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