Boosted by price increases, operating profit climbed by a fifth to 852 million euros in the first half of the year, as the Hamburg-based DAX-listed company announced on Thursday. "The positive business development allows us to look to the coming months with confidence, even if we still have to expect headwinds in some areas," said CEO Vincent Warnery. Beiersdorf increased its adjusted return on sales to 17.3 percent, almost one and a half percentage points more than in the same period last year.

The impressive result was largely driven by the global success of Nivea and the dermatological brands Eucerin and Aquaphor. The blue and white core brand (including Labello) grew by 18.4 percent, while the two skincare brands, which are mainly sold by pharmacies, grew by 26.1 percent. The Consumer division as a whole therefore grew faster than the market. The luxury brand La Prairie, whose revenues shrank significantly at the beginning of the year due to the effects of the coronavirus lockdown in China, was an exception.

At the smaller adhesives division Tesa, which does business with the automotive and electronics industries, earnings fell to 152 (previous year: 160) million euros from January to June. The Executive Board cited continued high investments in innovation, digitalization and sustainability as the reason for this. The return on sales was 18.4 (19.1) percent.

The Group as a whole increased turnover organically by 12.3% to EUR 4.9 billion in the first six months. At the bottom line, Beiersdorf earned 589 (505) million euros.

The Executive Board once again revised upwards the forecast it had only raised at the beginning of April. Instead of the previously expected organic sales growth in the mid to high single-digit percentage range, Beiersdorf now anticipates growth in the high single-digit to low double-digit range in the Group and in the Consumer segment. The Group aims to slightly exceed the previous year's EBIT margin excluding special effects.

(Report by Jan C. Schwartz. Edited by Olaf Brenner. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)