FRANKFURT: German consumer chemicals group Henkel, maker of Persil washing powder, said on Wednesday it was sticking to its full-year targets after business got off to a good start in the first quarter.
"Despite the continuing difficult market environment, Henkel had a good start to the fiscal year 2014," the company said in a statement.
"All our business units reported organic sales growth and improved profitability," said chief executive Kasper Rorsted.
"We delivered a very strong performance in our emerging markets, while we also grew in our mature markets. However, negative foreign exchange effects had an even stronger impact on reported sales than in the previous year."
In the period from January to March, net profit grew by 13.2 percent to 456 million euros ($635 million).
Underlying or operating profit was up 7.6 percent at 608 million euros, while sales slipped by 2.6 percent to 3.929 billion euros.
"We do not expect the foreign exchange situation to improve in the short term," cautioned CEO Rorsted.
"The economic environment will remain challenging with the latest developments in Eastern Europe creating additional uncertainty in the markets. This makes it difficult to forecast economic developments for the year ahead."
Nevertheless, Rorsted said Henkel was sticking to its full-year outlook.
"For the fiscal year 2014, we anticipate organic sales growth of 3.0-5.0 percent," he said.
Operating profit margin was projected to rise to around 15.5 percent earnings per share would show an increase "in the high single digits," Rorsted said.
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