Henkel AG, the maker of Persil detergent and Loctite glue, reported fourth-quarter profit that missed analyst predictions as the ruble’s drop held back growth in Russia.
As the company predicted further burdens there this year, adjusted earnings before interest jumped 3.1 per cent to £602 ($672 million), the company said in a statement.
The average estimate of eight analysts in a Bloomberg survey was £628 million. Revenue climbed 7.1 per cent to €4.1 billion euros. Excluding currency effects and acquisitions, sales increased by 3.9 per cent.
“The economic environment remains challenging and very volatile,” Chief Executive Officer Kasper Rorsted said in the statement. “Due to the continuing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, we expect stagnation in eastern Europe in 2015.”
Rorsted promised in November to curb discounting in the US, where competitor Procter & Gamble Co. dominates the laundry markets, after the maker of Right Guard deodorant experienced a sales drop there.
Henkel is prioritizing growth in North America, its second-biggest market, as Rorsted seeks to boost group revenue to €20 billion by 2016 from €16.4 billion in 2014.
Henkel forecast sales growth of three per cent to five per cent on an organic basis in 2015, with adjusted Ebit representing 16 per cent of sales and an increase in adjusted earnings per preferred share of about 10 per cent.
Bloomberg News, edited by ESM
