Henkel announced its results for the second quarter of 2015. Sales once again rose double-digit by 13.5% to €4,695 million. Adjusted for positive foreign exchange effects of 7.3%, sales improved by 6.2%. Organically – i.e. adjusted for foreign exchange and acquisitions/divestments – sales rose by 2.4%.
 
The Laundry & Home Care business unit recorded solid organic sales growth of 4.3%. In the Beauty Care business unit a positive increase in organic sales of 1.9% was achieved. The Adhesive Technologies business unit also posted a positive improvement in organic sales of 1.7%.
 
After one-time gains, one-time charges and restructuring charges, adjusted operating profit improved by 14.0%, from €674 million to €768 million. Reported operating profit (EBIT) grew by 21.4%, from €589 million to €715 million.
 
Adjusted net income for the quarter, after deducting non-controlling interests, increased by 11.8% from €499 million to €558 million. Reported net income for the quarter grew by 19.1% from €446 million to €531 million.
 
In the first half of 2015 Henkel’s sales increased significantly by €1,059 million to €9,125 million. This was an increase of 13.1% compared to the first half year 2014. Adjusted for foreign exchange, sales grew by 6.5%. Organically – i.e. adjusted for foreign exchange and acquisitions/divestments – sales increased by 3.0%, with all of Henkel’s business units contributing with a solid performance.
 
Adjusted operating profit grew by €182 million to €1,475 million (+14.0%). Adjusted return on sales increased from 16.0 to 16.2%.
 
Adjusted net income for the half year, after deducting non-controlling interests, rose by 12.3% from €951 million to €1,068 million.
 
“In a persistently challenging market environment, Henkel delivered overall a solid performance in the second quarter. We again achieved double-digit growth for both sales and earnings. The main drivers were solid organic sales growth, last year’s acquisitions and, above all, the strong US dollar. Organic sales in emerging markets were strong, once again making an above-average contribution to growth,” said Henkel CEO Kasper Rorsted.
 
“In the first half of 2015 we were able to increase sales by almost €1.1 billion euros to more than €9.1 billion,” Rorsted added. “With organic sales growth of 3.0%, an adjusted EBIT margin of 16.2% and adjusted EPS growth of 12.3% we are on track to reach our full year guidance.”
 
Despite the challenging environment, Rorsted confirmed the outlook for the full year. “We expect to achieve organic sales growth of 3 to 5% in 2015,” Rorsted noted. “We expect adjusted return on sales to increase to around 16% and anticipate an increase in adjusted earnings per preferred share of approximately 10%.”