Henkel has shared promising results for Q3 2015. Sales increased 8.4% to €4,590m and operating profit hit €778m.
Adjusted earning per preferred share (EPS) rose by 11.1% from €1.17 to €1.30 and net working capital relative to sales increased 0.4% year-on-year to 6%. The company has now raised its guidance for adjusted earnings per preferred share and now expects an increase of more than 10%.
Strong organic growth in emerging markets also boosted results, with a 6.5% increase. Henkel expects stable development in these markets going forward.
Kasper Rorsted, CEO of Henkel, said: “Despite a persistently challenging market environment, Henkel delivered a strong performance in the third quarter. We significantly increased both sales and earnings across all business units.”
Organic sales in the company’s Beauty Care business unit rose by 2.1%. Henkel now expects this growth to continue across fiscal year 2015.
Rorsted added: “The strong third quarter performance in challenging and volatile markets demonstrates our ability to adjust to the difficult economic environment. Agility and flexibility remain key success factors for us, confirming our strategy of adapting and further simplifying our structures and processes in line with the changing market conditions.”
Henkel expects an increase to around 16% for adjusted return on sales (EBIT) and believes that all of its business units will contribute to this improvement. The company has also raised its guidance for adjusted earnings per preferred share and now expects an increase of more than 10%.