Germany
www.henkel.com

Sales: $10.2 billion

Key Personnel: Hans Van Bylen, chief executive officer; Carsten Knobel, executive vice president, finance, chief financial officer; Kathrin Menges, executive vice president, human resources and infrastructure services; Pascal Houdayer, executive vice president, beauty care; Bruno Piacenza, executive vice president, laundry and home care.

Major Products: Household—Cold Power, Mir, Persil, Perwoll, Purex, Sil, Spee, Sun and Vernel laundry detergents; Pril and Pur dish detergents; Bref and Soft Scrub hard surface cleaners; Somat automatic dish detergent; Big D oven cleaner; Bloom, Catch and Combat pest control; Blue Star toilet bowl cleaner; Der General all-purpose cleaner; Clin glass cleaner. Personal Care—Schwarzkopf & Henkel, Schwarzkopf, Syoss, Alterna, Antica Erboristeria, Aok, BonaCure, BlondMe, Color Mask, Clynol, Brilliance, Blonde, Brilliance, Clynol, Color Mask, Color Ultime, Country Colors, Fibreplex, Fresh Light, Gliss Kur, Igora, Kenra, Keratin Color, Kit Racines, Konzil, Got2Be, Osis, Sexy Hair hair care products; Denivit and Theramed oral care; Diadem, Diadermine skin care; Diosa, Essensity and Nectra Color hair color; Dry Idea and Right Guard antiperspirants; Fa, La Toja, Neutromed personal cleansers; La Chat Soaps.

New Products: Beauty—Alterna Bamboo Beach, Gliss Kur Magnificent Strength hair care, Taft Fullness hair spray, Fa Dry Protect antiperspirant, Syoss Gloss Sensation hair color, Schwarzkopf Palette Intensive Color Crème, Schwarzkopf Brillance, Schauma 7 Blossom Oil, Schwarzkopf Men Zinc, Taft Fullness, Taft Power Electro, Glam Force, Fa Coconut Water and Coconut Milk shower gels, Dial Soothing Care body care, Right Guard Xtreme Odor Combat deodorant, Diadermine Lift + super Corrector; Household—Perwoll Renew 3D fine fabric detergent, Somat Phosphate-free automatic dishwasher detergent, Bref Power Aktiv toilet bowl cleaner; Acquisition—Sun Products, Nattura Laboratories.

Comments: The Sun makes things grow. No company knows that more than Henkel which, a little over a year ago, spent $3.5 billion to acquire Sun Products and its lineup of value-priced detergents. That acquisition made Henkel the No. 2 laundry care company in North America and provided a lift sales of household cleaning products, especially going forward. Interestingly, Henkel funded the acquisition with €2.2 billion in bonds with negative yields—the first DAX corporation in Germany to utilize that instrument.

Henkel says North America is its largest market, accounting for 25% of sales, and the Sun acquisition “marks an important step for Henkel in North America,” according to the company. The consumer goods businesses of Henkel and Sun Products are being merged into a new shared site in Stamford, CT.

Laundry and home care sales increased 4.7% in 2016, well-ahead of a market that is still dogged by price and promotional competition. By region, Western Europe was flat, while growth in North America was moderate. Elsewhere, solid gains were recorded in Eastern Europe and Latin America, but sales in Africa/Middle East declined as a result of the challenging market environment.

Beauty care sales were essentially flat last year at $4.2 billion, but Henkel’s mega-brand Schwarzkopf had more than €2 billion in sales. In fact, Henkel’s top 10 beauty brands accounted for more than 90% of division sales.

Western European results were tamped down by promotional activities and other pricing pressures. Elsewhere, Africa/Middle East sales continued to expand, but growth in Asia, outside Japan, slowed due to weakness in China. Latin America and Eastern Europe, both showed positive developments, according to Henkel. But no matter what the market, professional hair care remained “under pressure” as consumers limited their time and money spent at salons. Still, Henkel maintains it is the No. 3 player in the professional hair care category.

In March, Henkel agreed to acquire Nattura Laboratorios, S.A. de C.V., headquartered in Guadalajara, Mexico, and associated companies in the US, Colombia and Spain. The move strengthens Henkel’s professional hair care business and expands its footprint in emerging and mature markets. Thanks to the popularity of brands such as Pravana and Tec Italy, Nattura had sales of more than $100 million last year.

“This acquisition is part of our strategy to strengthen our position in attractive markets and categories. We will expand our Hair Professional business in Mexico and further leverage our brand portfolio in the US hair professional market,” said Henkel CEO Hans Van Bylen.

“The high-performance and high-quality brands of Nattura Laboratorios are a perfect fit for our beauty care business. They will complete our hair professional colorants core category and will reinforce Henkel’s global No. 3 position in this business. Moreover, this transaction will provide a platform for further growth in the attractive Latin American market,” added Pascal Houdayer, who is an executive vice president and is responsible for Henkel’s beauty care business.

The parties agreed to not disclose any financial details of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

For the first quarter of 2017, Sun Products continued to shine for Henkel, as laundry and home care sales jumped 29.5% to more than $1.8 billion. Henkel said strong organic sales were driven by gains in emerging markets. Asia, excluding Japan, achieved double-digit growth, while sales improved in Latin America. Eastern Europe and Africa/Middle East regions also had gains.

Beauty care sales rose 6.4% to about $1.1 billion in Q1. Like the home care business, emerging markets provided a lift in sales, as did salon products. Regionally, North America had a big increase in sales, while Western Europe sales were flat.