Strong growth in European markets has helped boost Beiersdorf’s sales performance in the first quarter of the year, with the Nivea maker posting an organic sales increase of 6.5% to €1.8 billion.
In nominal terms, sales were up 0.4% on the same quarter the previous year.
Consumer Performance
The group’s consumer sales business was up 6.1% in organic sales terms, with Western Europe posting a 4.2% increase (+2.8% in nominal terms), and Eastern Europe rising by 4.5% (0.0% in nominal terms).
The group said that Germany ‘recorded good growth’ for the period, however sales in France ‘remained below the prior year’.
Organic sales in the Americas region were up 1.6% on the prior-year figure, with North America posting sales growth of 8.3%. Nominal sales in the Americas region were down 10.7 % on the previous year’s figure of €278 million due to negative exchange rate effects.
Beiersdorf added that its Africa/Asia/Australia region recorded 'a substantial rise in sales' of 11.9 %. In nominal terms, sales rose by 1.8 % to €466 million.
Big Brands
In terms of brand performance, Nivea saw sales rise 1.9%, with its Derma business unit, which includes the Eucerin and Aquaphor brands, seeing a sales increase of 8.5%.
Its Healthcare business, which includes the Hansaplast and Elastoplast brands, were 2.7 % lower, while La Prarie was up 55.5%.
Its tesa business saw an 8.5% increase in organic sales, while nominal sales were up 3.6%.
“Beiersdorf made impressive progress on its profitable growth path in the first quarter of 2018,” said Stefan F. Heidenreich, CEO of Beiersdorf AG.
“Both business segments, Consumer and tesa, delivered very dynamic performance and sales growth well above the market. These significant growth rates once again demonstrate Beiersdorf’s strong international position and high level of competitiveness. Our continued success results from strengthening our brands, accelerating our innovations, and systematically expanding our business activities in emerging markets.
“Despite the current political and economic uncertainty throughout some regions, we look optimistically to the coming months and therefore confirm our forecast for 2018.”
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
