In nominal terms, sales by Beiersdorf’s Consumer
Business Segment increased by 7.5% to €5,048 million (previous year:
€4,696 million), while in organic terms, sales rose 4.9%. EBIT excluding special factors
amounted to €606 million (previous year: €537 million), while the
corresponding EBIT margin was 12.0% (previous year: 11.4%). The EBIT
margin excluding special factors in the Consumer Business Segment was
impacted by one-time expenses in China. These mainly comprised
provisions relating to the relaunch of our Chinese hair care product
lines. Without these expenses, it would have been 0.3 to 0.4 percentage
points higher.
All core brands – NIVEA, Eucerin, and La Prairie – generated robust organic growth. NIVEA achieved growth of 6.4% worldwide.
Sales in the Europe region increased slightly by 0.6%.
Eastern Europe generated strong growth of 8.7%. As expected, sales in
Western Europe were down on the previous year (-1.8%) due to the
difficult macroeconomic conditions in a number of countries. Sales in
Germany were almost on a level with the previous year (-0.6%). Business
performance was influenced by a streamlining of the product portfolio as
well as the insolvency of the Schlecker drugstore chain. EBIT excluding
special factors in Europe amounted to €514 million (previous year: €495
million).
Sales in the Americas region rose by 12.6%. Latin
America performed particularly well, with an increase in sales of 17.7%
driven primarily by extremely good growth rates in Brazil. Sales in
North America were up 2.7% on the previous year. EBIT excluding special
factors in the Americas region amounted to €57 million (previous year:
€55 million).
The Africa/Asia/Australia region recorded a 9.9%
increase in sales. In line with planning, sales in China were on a level
with the previous year. EBIT excluding special factors in this region
climbed to €35 million (previous year: €-13 million), primarily as a
result of the improvement in the Chinese business.
The
share of sales by the Consumer Business Segment accounted for by markets
in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Africa/Asia/Australia rose to 49%
in 2012 (previous year: 46%).