BERLIN, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- The German consumer goods- and chemicals giant Henkel has recorded its highest-ever revenue in 2017 since its foundation more than 140 years ago, the company told press on Thursday.
"2017 was a successful year for Henkel. Despite challenging and volatile market conditions, we reached new record levels in sales and earnings and achieved our financial targets for the year", a statement by chief executive officer (CEO) Hans Van Bylen read.
The Duesseldorf-based firm achieved total revenue of 20.03 billion euros (24.7 billion U.S. dollars) (plus seven percent) during the past business year, whilst also witnessing a rise in its adjusted operating profits by 9.1 percent to 3.461 billion euros.
As a consequence, Henkel will pay out its highest ever dividends to investors. The news was warmly welcomed on financial markets and propelled the company' share price upwards by nearly three percent to 109.35 euros.
The adhesive division, which accounted for nearly half of total revenue and includes popular brands such as Loctite, performed especially strongly in 2017. By contrast, the development of cosmetic products, contributing 19 percent of total revenue, offered a more "mixed picture", according to Van Bylen.
The CEO noted that revenue achieved with cosmetic brands such as "Schwarzkopf" and "Syoss" fell in the final quarter (Q4) of the year and announced the launch of a programme of innovation to regain lost market share.
While Henkel breached the watermark of 20 billion euros in revenue for the first time in 2017, it still posted a negative net financial result of -55 million euros due to the high cost of several large acquisitions. Van Bylen spent nearly 2 billion euros on company purchases during the past year and emphasized that more mergers could follow as Henkel continued to pursue an aggressive growth strategy.
"Going forward, we will continue to focus on sustainable profitable growth with attractive returns. We are committed to deliver on our financial ambition 2020," a statement by the CEO read.
Amongst others, Henkel hereby highlighted a corporate goal to double online revenue from currently just over 2 billion euros to more than four billion euros in 2020. (1 euro = 1.23 U.S. dollars)
