Beiersdorf benefits from bump in Nivea sales

(Reuters) -Beiersdorf’s Nivea brand recorded 18% sales growth in the first quarter of 2023 thanks to price hikes, the German firm said on Wednesday, confirming higher sales across its business year-on-year.

Its Tesa segment eked out organic of 0.9% in the quarter.

Sales to the automotive industry rose by a double-digit percentage, offsetting a weaker start to the year for its electronics business in China, which was affected by lower demand for smartphones and tablets.

Beiersdorf’s luxury brand La Prairie was the only outlier, recording a 12% fall in sales year-on-year, with the company citing challenging market conditions in China caused by the changes in COVID-19 policies.

Momentum in the business appears very good (volumes up) aside from La Prairie, which should turn materially in Q2 2023,” Credit Suisse commented on the result.

Overall, the consumer business unit of Beiersdorf achieved sales of 2.06 billion euros ($2.27 billion), growing by 14.8% year-on-year.

Shares in Beiersdorf were up 0.3% in early Frankfurt trade.

($1 = 0.9108 euros)

($1 = 0.9090 euros)

(Reporting by Tristan Veyet in Gdansk, Editing by Friederike Heine)