Henkel adhesives sales and earnings flat in 2018

Dusseldorf, Germany – Sales in Henkel’s adhesive technologies division, which includes polyurethanes, were flat at EUR 9.4bn in 2018.

The numbers would have been higher, but currency exchange variations took 5.2% off the top. However, acquisitions and divestments offset this. They added 1.4%, the company said.

There is a similar story for operating profit, which grew slightly to EUR 1.69bn. The company was able to maintain its profitability by raising prices, and tightening its production and supply chain. These moves offset the effect of higher raw material prices.

Despite this, working capital increased in the business segment. In 2018 it amounted to 11.8% of sales. In addition, the company said that return on capital employed fell slightly from 20.3% to 19.3%

Meanwhile, across the haircare and detergents to adhesives company, sales were flat between 2017 and 2018 at around EUR 20bn. EBIT grew by 1% to EUR 3.5bn

The company said it is trying to reduce the amount of time to develop new products and bring them to market. It is also very interested in increasing the amount of first-year sales from new products.

'Despite significant currency headwinds and rising direct material prices, we achieved good organic sales growth, with strong earnings, profitability and cash flow. We made very good progress in implementing our strategic priorities and further improved our competitiveness,' said Hans van Bylen, Henkel's CEO.