The core brand Nivea had to post a decrease in sales of 6 percent
After a significant decline in sales in the Corona year 2020, the Hamburg-based consumer goods company Beiersdorf hopes to get out of the crisis with additional investments, digitization and sustainability. In addition to investments of 70 to 80 million euros annually, the group will invest an additional 300 million euros in the next five years, said Beiersdorf boss Stefan De Loecker on Wednesday when the annual figures were presented.
Even if 2021 remains uncertain, “we are optimistic about the current year”. He was confident that Beiersdorf remained competitive even during the corona crisis. Nevertheless, the past financial year did not go as expected. As the company announced, sales were 8.2 percent below the previous year's level at EUR 7.025 billion. Worldwide corona-related restrictions and travel restrictions would have significantly impaired business development – especially in the second quarter. Group profit shrank by 19.3 percent to 636 million euros. Earnings per share fell by 19.7 percent to 2.73 euros.
Sales in the most important business segment, Consumer, fell “organically”, ie on their own, by 6.6 percent to 5.7 billion euros – although according to the information it would have fallen even further without the well-developing brands Eucerin and Aquaphor . Beiersdorf recorded growth of 8.3 percent for them.
Beiersdorf also had to accept a decline of 6.0 percent for its core brand Nivea, but according to the information it was able to gain market share in more than half of the countries. “Hansaplast was also affected by the lockdown, mainly due to limited sports and gaming activities,” said De Loecker. Sales in the Healthcare sector – that is essentially the plaster business for the Hansaplast brand – were 5.9 percent below the previous year's level.
