Beiersdorf's Performance Hitting Record High

Abstract: On August 4, the financial data of Beiersdorf in the first half of 2022 showed sales of $ 4.569 billion, organic growth of 10.5%, and pre-tax profit of $ 717 million, up by30.5% year on year. Its brands NIVEA and La Prairie achieved organic growth of 11.2% and 1.8% respectively.

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According to Beiersdorf's 2020 and 2021 financial report, the group registered a 5.7 % decline in sales of 2020 and an organic sales of 2021 rising by 9.7 %. In the first half of 2022, its performance picked up again, reaching sales of $ 4.569 billion with an organic growth of 10.5 % and pre-tax profit of $ 717 million, up by 30.5 % year on year.

Sales in the second quarter were $ 2.234 billion compared to the first quarter of 2022, staying roughly unchanged from the first quarter. Sales in Europe were $ 2.082 billion with an organic growth of 7.5%; organic growth in the Americas reached a maximum of 20%, with sales of $ 1.09 billion. Sales in Asia, Africa and Australia were $ 7.554 billion, an organic increase of 8.9%.

In terms of brand performance, Nivea's sales grew organically by 11.2%, the sunscreen, lip, face and body care categories in skin care products achieved higher sales, and the deodorant and bath gel sales in personal care products performed well.

Eucerin and Aquaphor, Derma's cosmeceutical brands, continued to maintain good sales performance, achieving strong organic growth of 26.6%, while the brand portfolio also enjoys the highest online share. Eucerin has maintained double-digit growth since 2020, according to the financial report. It is worth mentioning that the brand is back on the right track in the Chinese market, especially with 618 shopping festival, which saw sales growth of 94% in the second quarter.

By contrast, luxury brand La Prairie registered an organic growth of just 1.8 % in the first half and even a 7.4 % decline in the second quarter, which is mainly due to severe sales decline in its core market China undermined by the COVID-19 lockdown in the second quarter.However, with the easing of restrictions in China since June, La Prairie's growth begun to pick up while in North America, it has maintained a double-digit growth. The recently acquired Chantecaille contributed $ 37 million in sales from February to June.

For the first half of the group's performance, Vincent Warnery, Beiersdorf's chief executive, said: "2022 has been a successful year for us so far. Amid such an increasingly grim environment, Beiersdorf has maintained strong growth momentum from the beginning of the year to the second quarter, achieving double-digit sales growth and significantly improving our profitability."

Europe remained an important core market for the consumer sector by region, with sales of $ 1.659 billion, an organic growth of 8.1 %; Sales in Asia, Africa and Australia rose by 8.9 % to $ 1.094 billion. North America posted strong performance growth of 23.8 % with sales of $ 941 million, which thanks mainly to double-digit growth in Coopertone's sunscreen products and contributions from Eucerin and Aquaphor.

While the macro environment remains uncertain and future performance forecasts will be severely constrained, Beiersdorf said it has confidence in achieving higher-than-market sales growth in the single digit range in the consumer sector throughout fiscal 2022.