Henkel has reported a mixed start to the 2026 financial year as group sales sank 5.5% to €4.9bn in Q1, impacted by foreign exchange headwinds and recent M&A activity.
The German consumer goods company’s acquisitions of hair care brand Olaplex and Not Your Mother’s reduced sales by 2.1%, despite representing more than €1.6bn in additional income.
Henkel announced its US$1.4bn deal to buy Olaplex in March 2026 to expand its “presence in premium hair care”.
Henkel’s acquisition of Not Your Mother’s, completed in April 2026, is also said to strengthen the consumer goods company’s position in the North American beauty market.
Foreign exchange effects also hurt the overall sales performance by 5.2%.
However, on an organic basis, sales increased by 1.7% due to a positive mix of price and volume during the quarter.
“In a challenging environment, we delivered good organic sales growth in the first quarter, driven by both business units,” said Henkel CEO Carsten Knobel.
“We achieved price and volume growth in both adhesive technologies and consumer brands.
“At the same time, we are consistently executing our strategic agenda and investing in the expansion of our businesses.”
The challenging quarter was also affected by Henkel’s consumer brands business unit, which includes hair care brands Schwarzkopf and got2b.
Consumer brand sales in Q1 totalled €2.2bn, a 8% decrease compared with the same quarter in 2025, although organic sales increased by 1.8%.
Henkel’s hair division offset these declines slightly, reporting an organic sales increase of 5.1%, with the strongest contribution coming from the hair colourants category.
Other business areas recorded positive organic sales of 0.5%, driven primarily by growth in the body care category in North America.
On a regional basis, organic sales in Europe decreased 3.4% in the first quarter, and were offset by a bumper performance in the India, the Middle East and Africa (IMEA) region, where sales increased organically by 12.8%.
Plus, organic sales performance was positive in North America at 0.9%, Latin America at 3.1%, and the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region at 10.3%.
For full-year 2026, Henkel anticipates organic sales growth of between 1% and 3%, and for consumer brands, it anticipates this to increase by 0.5% to 2.5%.
In terms of recent acquisitions and divestments, Henkel also predicts a “positive effect in the low single-digit percentage range on nominal sales growth”, a company statement read.
Knobel added: “At the same time, we are consistently executing our strategic agenda and investing in the expansion of our businesses.
“This also includes the recently announced acquisitions in both business units, which together represent almost €1.6bn in additional sales.
“In the meantime, we have already successfully closed three of the five transactions.
“We continue to see Henkel well on track for sustainable, profitable growth.”
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