Consumer businesses report continued success; slight recovery of Adhesives business.

In a persistently difficult market environment, Henkel achieved sales of 3,485 million euros in the second quarter of 2009, 5.0% less than in the prior-year period. Organic sales (i.e., sales after adjusting for foreign exchange and acquisitions/ divestments) were 5.3% below the level of the second quarter of 2008, but improved slightly compared to the first quarter of this year. Against this background, developments at the company’s three business sectors continued to show a very mixed picture. The consumer goods businesses Laundry & Home Care and Cosmetics/Toiletries were able to successfully continue their positive trend with organic growth rates of 6.3% and 3.5%, respectively. The Adhesive Technologies business sector improved compared to the first quarter, but due to the volume decreases in major customer industries worldwide, was unable to avoid posting a decline in organic sales of 15.4%.

Due primarily to the restructuring charges burden on the results of the prior-year quarter, operating profit (EBIT) increased by 145%, from 113 million euros to 279 million euros. After adjusting for one-time gains/charges and restructuring charges, adjusted operating profit (“adjusted EBIT”) decreased by 17.2%, from 372 million euros to 308 million euros. This is largely attributable to the decrease in earnings at Adhesive Technologies.

The EBIT margin was 8.0%, while the adjusted EBIT margin decreased from 10.1% to 8.7%.

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