Nivea’s exit from colour cosmetics dampens Beiersdorf growth
Variable economic trends expected over the next few years
Beiersdorf has posted a 2.1% rise in sales for the first nine months of 2011 to €4.27bn. Consumer division sales – including the Nivea ranges – went up 0.9% to €3.57bn. This compares with growth of 2.3% in the same period of the previous year. Beiersdorf's group operating earnings fell 10.8% to €492m while post-tax profits were down 4.9% at €336m in the nine-month period.
The company says that the global Nivea marketing offensive was especially effective in the core category of skin care but the exit from Nivea Make-up as part of a general product range streamlining had a dampening effect on growth.
Sales of Nivea products alone went up 2% in the first nine months with Nivea Body Care and Nivea Visage posting above average rates of growth. Nivea Deodorant was extremely successful once again worldwide though hair care products were affected negatively by the streamlining with lower sales.
The La Prairie brand put on growth of 4.5% and Eucerin was positive in sales terms in international markets with sales increasing by 4.9%.
Regional results were variable with German sales down 4.3% ompared with the same year earlier period and in western Europe sales dipped 2%. East European sales were up 3.7% with good growth in the Russia-Ukraine region. In contrast to Europe, American region sales rose 12.1% with North American growth up 5.1% and Latin American sales increasing by 16.5%. Sales in the Africa-Asia-Australia region were down 0.4%.
Beiersdorf says it expects global economic trends to be decidedly variable over the next few years and overall US GDP growth is not expected to more more than marginally over 2010. A group growth forecast has been set slightly up on 2010 with post-tax return on sales of 7% to 8%. Nivea products and other consumer sector sales will continue to be affected by the recent clearing out and streamlining of product ranges but growth in 2011 as a whole could well offset this factor.