According to preliminary, unaudited business figures now available, Beiersdorf Aktiengesellschaft, Hamburg, recorded a 5.7% increase in organic Group sales to €7,055 million as against the prior-year period based on a very good business development in 2017 and a significant sales acceleration in the fourth quarter above the last released guidance (4-5%). Organic sales growth in the Consumer business segment amounted to 4.7% (sales of €5,798 million; lastly forecasted approximately 4%) compared with the previous year, while in the tesa business segment it was 10.6% (sales of €1,257 million; lastly forecasted about 8%).
According to the preliminary figures available now, Beiersdorf expects the EBIT margins for the Group and for the Consumer business segment to be slightly above previous year (previous year Group: 15%; previous year Consumer business segment: 14.8%); the EBIT margin for the tesa business segment is now expected to be significantly above previous year (previous year tesa: 16.2%). Due to the absence of one-time profits incurred in 2016 as well as losses from foreign exchange and from financial investments in 2017 Beiersdorf expects the profit after tax margin to be around 10% (previous year: 10.8%).
The final business results, in particular income and earnings figures, will not be available until the 2017 financial statements are prepared. They will be published on March 1, 2018.