Persil-owner Henkel gives soft growth guidance, as weak North America weighs

Matthias Inverardi, Elizaveta Gladun and Linda Pasquini

Mon, Mar 10, 2025, 11:39 PM 2 min read

By Matthias Inverardi, Elizaveta Gladun and Linda Pasquini

(Reuters) -Germany's Henkel gave a brushed guidance for 2025 integrated income maturation connected Tuesday, projecting a slower commencement to the twelvemonth owed to pugnacious concern situation and muted user sentiment particularly successful North America.

The Persil detergent and Loctite glue maker's shares fell 7.6% by 0817 GMT, among the worst performers connected Europe's benchmark STOXX 600 index.

Henkel, a rival to marketplace leaders L'Oreal and Procter & Gamble, has been grappling with subdued user spending connected idiosyncratic and location attraction products and weakness successful concern sectors specified arsenic automotive and electronics.

North America made up 28% of its planetary income past year.

The Schwarzkopf proprietor said it expected integrated income to turn betwixt 1.5% and 3.5% successful 2025, factoring successful a mean emergence successful some concern and user request crossed cardinal areas of its user goods business.

After a dilatory start, the maturation should accelerate successful the people of the twelvemonth and pb to a stronger 2nd half, it said.

At 2.5%, the mid-point of the outlook is beneath the 3% maturation estimated by analysts polled by Vara Research.

For 2024, the user goods and adhesives shaper reported 2.6% integrated income maturation to 21.6 cardinal euros ($23.4 billion), missing analysts' mean forecast of 3.2%.

It expects prices for nonstop materials to emergence successful a debased to mid-single-digit percent successful 2025, portion the currency speech effect volition beryllium neutral oregon antagonistic successful debased azygous digits, it said.

It forecast an yearly operating borderline of 14% to 15.5%, compared to 14.3% past year.

Henkel projected a dividend of 2.04 euros per preferred share, up 10.3% from a twelvemonth earlier, and said successful a abstracted connection that it would repurchase shares for up to 1 cardinal euros.

($1 = 0.9223 euros)

(Reporting by Matthias Inverardi, Elizaveta Gladun and Linda Pasquini; editing by Milla Nissi)