THE WHAT? Henkel has announced a ‘significant’ uptick in sales and earnings for the first half of 2023 and, as a result, is upping its outlook for fiscal 2023. The manufacturer of Schwarzkopf is now forecasting sales of 2.5 percent to 4.5 percent for FY2023.

THE DETAILS The company’s Consumer Brands unit is expected to deliver sales growth of between 3 and 5 percent, up from the 1 to 3 percent announced previously.

In the first half, Group sales put on 4.9 percent, hitting €10.9 billion thanks to very strong growth in both business units. EBIT margin delivered a strong increase of +80 basis points to reach 11.5 percent and EPS soared 14.4 percent at constant exchange rates to €2.13.

THE WHY? Henkel CEO Carsten Knobel, reveals, “We achieved very strong growth in both business units. At the same time, we succeeded in significantly improving our earnings despite the continuing headwinds from high material and logistic prices. Following the strong performance in the first half of the year, we are confident for the remainder of the year and have significantly raised our full-year guidance for sales and earnings.”