Henkel 3rd quarter sales grow by 12%

Duesseldorf-based company said net profit for the July-September period fell to 101 million euros from 238 million euros a year earlier, even as sales increased 12 percent to 3.76 billion euros from 3.36 billion euros.

 Operating profit was down 47 percent to
191 million euros ($247.1 million) from 359 million euros.

Henkel said it had restructuring
charges of 181 million euros ($234.2 million) in the quarter, far
higher than the 9 million euros a year earlier. They relate to its
efficiency program, which it has said will likely lead to 3,000 job
cuts, and to integrating the adhesives and electronic materials units
that it acquired from National Starch earlier this year.

Henkel said its adjusted pretax profit
margin decreased from 11 percent to 10.4 percent, mostly because of
"the heavy impact of raw material price increases" on its
laundry and adhesives businesses.

For the full year, the company chopped
its forecast for growth in adjusted operating profit to "around
10 percent" from its previous guidance of a figure "at the
lower end of the mid-teens percentage range."