Beiersdorf confident for 2009

Beiersdorf has said it is confident about its performance for the rest of the year despite its expectation that the market will contract.

The company issued an update in recent days and explained that its tesa business has felt the effects of a decline in some customer sectors.

However, it forecast consumer business sales to be in excess of last year’s and said investments will continue due to a “sound financial position”.

Beiersdorf’s like-for-like sales for the first quarter of 2009 “roughly” matched those of 2008, the group said, although tesa’s organic sales decreased by 23.8 per cent.

According to chairman of the executive board of Beiersdorf, Thomas B Quass, measures have been taken to strengthen the long-term value of tesa, including planned investment in new technology.

The group’s core brands include Nivea, Labello, Elastoplast, Eucerin and La Prairie.

During 2008, it invested a total of 149 million euros (132.3 million pounds) and employed 926 people in the field of research and development.