Consumer goods group Henkel recorded a decline in sales and lower operating profit last year. For 2026, the manufacturer of Pritt and Persil expects slightly increasing sales. However, the group also sees the current year marked by uncertainties. "With the war in the Middle East that began at the end of February, uncertainties have once again increased significantly," said CEO Carsten Knobel.

In the current year, organic sales will increase by between one and three percent - "even if the start to the year is likely to be somewhat more cautious," said Knobel. The adjusted return on sales (EBIT margin) is expected to be in a range of 14.5 to 16 percent, following around 14.8 percent in the previous year.

Last year, Henkel recorded a decline in sales to 20.5 billion euros (previous year: 21.6 billion euros), partly due to negative exchange rate effects, while the adjusted EBIT margin increased by 50 basis points to 14.8 percent. In contrast, adjusted operating profit (adjusted EBIT) was below the previous year's level at three billion euros due to significantly negative exchange rate effects. The dividend for 2025 will rise to 2.07 euros (previous year: 2.04 euros) per preferred share, representing an increase of 1.5 percent. According to a Vara survey, analysts had expected average sales of around 20.6 billion euros and adjusted EBIT of three billion euros. They had anticipated a dividend of 2.11 euros per preferred share.

(Report by Matthias Inverardi, edited by Myria Mildenberger. For inquiries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and economics) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)