Germany’s Henkel has withdrawn its financial forecast for 2020 citing economic uncertainty due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The consumer goods giant said that at present it is not possible to predict the future business performance of the company in 2020.
Henkel CEO Carsten Knobel, explained, “As the COVID-19 pandemic has worldwide reach and its further development is impossible to predict, we currently cannot make reliable projections for our business performance in 2020.”
“But with our committed global team, their resilience, and capabilities, as well as our strong balance sheet we are confident to master the crisis in the best way possible and to emerge stronger from this crisis.”
Response To Crisis
The Persil-maker added that the company is responding to the crisis by implementing specific measures across all business units and functions.
Knobel stated, “The world is going through a very challenging period. In this difficult situation, the health and safety of our employees, customers and business partners have the highest priority for us.
“We have taken early action and measures to protect them while ensuring business continuity under these unprecedented conditions,”
First-Quarter Performance
Henkel expects its overall organic sales growth to decline by 0.9% in the first quarter of its financial year, according to preliminary results.
The consumer goods giant is likely to see a 5.5% growth in organic sales in its laundry and home care division, driven by strong demand.
It has forecast a decline of 3.9% in its beauty care segment, and a 4.1% drop in its adhesives business for the quarter.
Henkel will publish its financial results for the first quarter of 2020 on 11 May.
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
