Beiersdorf grows in a challenging market environment

• Group sales grow by 6.3% (€1.9 billion) to reach pre-crisis level
  
• tesa leads positive sales trend at +23.6% (€397 million)
  
• Consumer Business Segment lifts sales by 2.7% to €1.5 billion: dermatological brands (+12.1%) and LA PRAIRIE (+17.0%) record strong growth, sales up slightly at NIVEA (+0.5%)
• Climate commitment reinforced: first climate-neutralized products launched
• Guidance for 2021 confirmed: positive sales growth and EBIT margin at previous year’s level
  

Hamburg, April 28, 2021 – Beiersdorf AG has begun the 2021 fiscal year with an organic increase in sales of 6.3%. Group sales for the first quarter stood at €1.9 billion. Beiersdorf thus recorded a solid start to the new fiscal year despite the impacts of COVID-19 continue to be felt in large parts of the world and the numerous restrictions brought by the pandemic.

Despite a still difficult market environment, especially in Europe, the Consumer Business Segment achieved 2.7% organic sales growth in the first quarter of 2021, taking sales to €1.5 billion. The upward trend was driven by the EUCERIN and AQUAPHOR dermatological brands as well as the exclusive skin care from LA PRAIRIE. In online business, sales were up by more than 70% in the first three months of the year compared with the same quarter of the previous year.

In the first quarter of 2021, the NIVEA core brand achieved a turnaround from the same period of the previous year, with organic sales growth of 0.5%. While the pandemic continued to hit sales of sun and lip care products, there was greater demand for face and body care items. NIVEA also reaffirmed its strong position in the emerging markets, where it gained further market share.

The EUCERIN and AQUAPHOR dermatological brands continued the previous year’s sales success story, achieving double-digit organic growth again of 12.1% from January to March versus an already strong prior-year quarter. Substantial sales increases were recorded especially in the United States and Latin America. The trend in market shares showed a similar picture. EUCERIN and AQUAPHOR further enhanced their leading market positions and gained additional shares of the European and North American markets in particular.

LA PRAIRIE, which provides exclusive skin care, remained the brand most heavily affected by the coronavirus travel restrictions. Almost a quarter of all doors remained closed at the end of the first quarter, the majority in LA PRAIRIE’s important travel retail business. Nevertheless, sales were up 17.0% in the first three months of the year. This was due to significant growth in Asia, led by domestic travel in China. A further driver was the targeted increase in recognition by launching LA PRAIRIE on the Chinese retail platform Tmall at the beginning of the year.

Beiersdorf achieved a further milestone as part of the “Care Beyond Skin” sustainability agenda. The NIVEA Naturally Good face care range is to bring the first climate-neutralized products to market in about 30 countries, with more set to follow. With this step, Beiersdorf is working intensively on its transformation towards greater sustainability and a reduced environmental footprint.

Beiersdorf’s tesa subsidiary benefited in the first three months of 2021 from its clear strategic focus on key growth areas. All regions contributed to the organic growth of 23.6% in the first quarter. This trend was driven by the continued strong performance in electronics, especially in China, and by the global recovery of the automotive industry after a difficult 2020, boosting tesa’s automotive and electrical systems businesses.

The positive trend for consumer & craftsmen products through the second half of 2020 continued into 2021 in all European regions. Continued high demand in the do-it-yourself business and an increase in online sales helped to generate solid growth in this sector.

As well as recording strong sales figures, tesa sent two important signals for the future in the first quarter. The first of these was the successful completion of the initial phase of the expansion at its site in Suzhou, China. This expansion is an important step for tesa in further strengthening its market position in China and surrounding countries. The second notable development was a successful collaboration with Porsche AG in the area of automated sealing of openings in the car bodywork – an example of how tesa is driving innovations as a long-standing partner to the automotive industry.

In this continuing volatile environment, we expect positive sales growth for the Beiersdorf Group and Consumer Business Segment, with the EBIT margin from operations remaining level with the previous year. For the tesa Business Segment, we anticipate positive sales growth. The EBIT margin from operations will be below last years’ level due to significant investments in tesa’s strategic focus areas.