Henkel Closes Last Year with Profitable Growth

Henkel's sales reached EUR 19.9 billion. The goal is to strengthen competitiveness, particularly by capitalizing on additional growth opportunities in consumer business units and accelerating the company's digital transformation. To this end, investments are expected to increase by around EUR 300 million annually starting in January for 2019 and onwards. Henkel Chief Executive Officer Hans Van Bylen said, "2018 was a good year for Henkel. Despite significant currency headwinds and rising direct material costs, we achieved solid organic sales growth, strong earnings, profitability and cash flow. We made good progress in implementing our strategic priorities and further strengthened our competitive position. We are confident that Henkel is well positioned for the future. We have a clear strategy and are working towards ambitious targets. With our increasing investments in brands, technologies, innovations and digitalization, we are demonstrating our commitment to sustainable profitable growth."