BERLIN (Reuters) -Nivea maker Beiersdorf expects its 2021 group sales to rise by close to 10% this year, it said on Thursday, as strong demand for adhesives and its dermatological brands pushed its first-half revenues above pre-pandemic levels.
“This is the momentum we want to use going forward,” Beiersdorf’s new Chief Executive Vincent Warnery said in a statement.
Under his predecessor Stefan de Loecker, Beiersdorf invested more in its consumer business to revive slowing sales growth and bought U.S. sun care brand Coppertone from Bayer for $550 million to strengthen its position in North America.
Organic sales jumped by 28.3% in the second quarter, bringing growth for the first half to 16.2%. Six-month revenues of 3.87 billion euros were a tad above consensus for 3.82 billion according to Refinitiv IBES data.
The Hamburg-based firm said it sees full-year group sales growing by a high single-digit percentage, having previously said only that it saw positive sales growth for 2021.
Beiersdorf’s first-half margin on EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) widened to 15.3% from 13.7%. For the full year, however, it expects the margin to remain flat from 2020 due to rising material prices and investments in digitisation and innovation.
Shares in Beiersdorf rose 1.6% in early trade.
(Reporting by Maria SheahanEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
