Nivea maker Beiersdorf has enjoyed a 10.8% increase in organic sales in fiscal year 2023 to hit €9.5bn.
The group’s flagship name Nivea, including lip balm umbrella brand Labello, surpassed the €5bn mark for the first time in its history.
The mass skin care brand’s nominal sales of €5.2bn translated into organic growth of 16.2%.
Beiersdorf credited Nivea’s performance in face care with the sales surge, in particular Nivea’s Luminous series, which it said outperformed the market.
The company’s Derma business, which includes Eucerin and Aquaphor, was another 2023 success story, with organic sales growth of 24% and nominal sales reaching €1.3bn.
This was due to a strong sun care category performance and continued expansion in e-commerce, said Beiersdorf.
Derma was also boosted by the popularity of products containing Eucerin’s hero ingredient Thiamidol (INCI: Isobutylamido thiazolyl resorcinol), a skin lightener which inhibits tyrosinase, the enzyme controlling the production of melanin.
The Nivea and Derma businesses’ strong 2023 helped offset a poor performance from Beiersdorf’s luxury brands, La Prairie and Chantecaille.
La Prairie’s organic sales for the fiscal year decreased 15.4%, while Chantecaille’s dropped 18.4%, as a result of difficult travel retail and mainland China markets.
Beiersdorf expects La Prairie and Chantecaille to return to growth in 2024.
It credited this to healthier stock levels and product innovation, an enhanced social commerce set-up and the expansion of its luxury brands’ travel retail businesses.
However, overarchingly, the German conglomerate’s outlook for 2024 points to an anticipated slowdown in growth, with organic group sales expected to increase in the mid-single-digit range this year.
The news saw shares drop 3.9% this morning to €132.4.
2023 was a landmark year for Beiersdorf, which opened a €250m global headquarters in Hamburg in September.
Called the Beiersdorf Campus, it covers an area of 51,000sqm.
Beiersdorf this week signed an agreement to acquire the real estate assets of Clinique La Prairie in Montreux, Switzerland in a deal that will reunite the prestige skin care brand with its birthplace.
