Beiersdorf H1 FY26 sales drop to USD 5.8B as consumer segment faces headwinds
Persistent weakness at its flagship NIVEA brand offset continued strong growth from its Derma portfolio.
GERMANY – Beiersdorf has reported a 3.5% organic decline in group net sales to €4,952 million (USD 5.36 billion) in the first half of 2026, down from €5,188 million (USD 5.62 billion) a year earlier.
On a nominal basis, group sales fell 4.5%, while operating profit dropped to €768 million (USD 885 million) from €836 million (USD 968 million), pushing the EBIT margin excluding special factors down to 15.5% from 16.1%.
Profit after tax edged down slightly to €558 million (USD 647 million) from €561 million (USD 650 million).
The gross cash flow rose to €738 million (USD 855 million) from €622 million (USD 721 million) while capital expenditure fell to €180 million (USD 209 million) from €214 million (USD 248 million).
The consumer business segment, which includes NIVEA, Eucerin, Aquaphor, La Prairie, Hansaplast and Elastoplast, saw organic sales fall 4.0% to €4,113 million (USD 4.77 billion), with NIVEA (including Labello) down 6.8% organically to €2,703 million (USD 3.13 billion).
This performance is driven by temporary sell-in headwinds, customer conflicts, a later-than-expected European sun season, trade destocking and innovation phasing effects, as well as ongoing impacts from the Middle East crisis and structural challenges in NIVEA’s core portfolio.
In contrast, Derma brands Eucerin and Aquaphor grew 7.8% organically to €837 million (USD 969 million), driven by breakthrough ingredients Epicelline® and Thiamidol®, expansion into new categories and markets, and strong second-quarter growth in North America, Brazil and China.
Regionally, consumer sales in Europe fell 6.5% organically to €1,837 million (USD 2.13 billion), with Western Europe down 6.0% and Eastern Europe down 8.8%.
Meanwhile, the Americas declined 1.5% to €1,131 million (USD 1.31 billion) and Africa/Asia/Australia dropped 2.1% to €1,145 million (USD 1.33 billion), with the Middle East crisis cited as an ongoing drag on consumer sentiment, consumption and costs.
In response to NIVEA’s continued underperformance, Beiersdorf has launched the next phase of its rebalancing strategy: an 18‑month turnaround plan focused on broad-based innovation across all NIVEA categories.
This move is reinforcing accessibility to drive penetration and volume growth, tailoring offerings to market-specific consumer needs and increasing high-impact, consumer-facing investments and activation, backed by an additional €100 million in media spend in the second half of 2026 compared with the second half of 2025.
Given the volatile market environment and the time needed for these measures to fully feed through, the company has lowered its 2026 guidance to a low-single-digit organic sales decline for both the group and the consumer segment.
The consumer EBIT margin (excluding special factors) now expected to be at least 11.0% and the group EBIT margin (excluding special factors) at least 11.8%, while maintaining its expectation for tesa to deliver flat to slightly growing organic sales and a margin slightly below the prior year.
Looking beyond 2026, Beiersdorf expects to return to net sales growth in 2027, stabilize EBIT margins and resume profitable growth from 2028, with net sales growth above market and steady EBIT margin improvement.
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