Henkel : “Henkel is well-positioned for the future.”

At Henkel's Annual General Meeting today, CEO Hans Van Bylen presented the key developments of the fiscal year 2016. He outlined the strategic direction and priorities for the coming years and provided an outlook for the current fiscal year.

Hans Van Bylen presented Henkel's strong business performance in fiscal 2016 and shareholders are to receive a record dividend. '2016 was a very successful year for Henkel. In a challenging market environment, we achieved new record levels for sales and earnings. I want to thank all our employees worldwide who have significantly contributed to this success,' said Hans Van Bylen, who was appointed CEO in May last year.

Dr. Simone Bagel-Trah, Chairwoman of the Shareholders' Committee and the Supervisory Board, thanked the Management Board and all employees for their great commitment in 2016.

Proposed dividends at a new high

An increase by 15 cents per dividend of both share classes to 1.62 euros per preferred share and 1.60 euros per ordinary share was proposed to the shareholders, representing an increase of more than 10 percent compared to the prior year. 'This is the highest dividend ever paid out,' said Hans Van Bylen. 'The payout ratio remains at around 30 percent, ensuring a solid financial foundation which will allow us to further invest in growth and continue creating sustainable value.'

'Henkel 2020': Focus on profitable growth

Hans Van Bylen also outlined the future development of the company and the strategic priorities for the coming years. 'Henkel is well-positioned for the future. In order to remain successful, we developed concrete ambitions and strategic priorities until 2020 and beyond in the course of last year.'

'We want to generate more profitable growth in the coming years. To achieve this, we intend to focus even more strongly on the needs of our customers and consumers as well as becoming more innovative, more agile and more digital. At the same time, we aim to promote sustainability throughout the value chain and to further extend our long-standing, internationally recognized leading role in the field of sustainability,' said Hans Van Bylen.

'We also defined four concrete financial performance indicators. Until 2020, we aim to achieve an average organic sales growth between 2 and 4 percent. For adjusted earnings per preferred share, we target a compound annual growth rate ‏(CAGR) of 7 to 9 percent. In addition, we aim to continuously improve our adjusted EBIT margin and our free cash flow,' said Hans Van Bylen.

Driving growth, accelerating digitalization, increasing agility and funding growth - these are the four strategic priorities on which Henkel will be focusing in the coming years. Combined with its corporate values, these priorities will guide Henkel to make the company even more competitive and successful through to 2020 and beyond.

Confirmation of outlook for the fiscal year 2017

For the fiscal year 2017, Hans Van Bylen reconfirmed Henkel's outlook which was already announced at the company's Annual Results Conference: 'We expect organic sales growth of 2 to 4 percent, with adjusted EBIT margin rising to more than 17.0 percent and adjusted earnings per preferred share increasing between 7 and 9 percent.'

This document contains forward-looking statements which are based on the current estimates and assumptions made by the corporate management of Henkel AG & Co. KGaA. Forward-looking statements are characterized by the use of words such as expect, intend, plan, predict, assume, believe, estimate, anticipate, forecast and similar formulations. Such statements are not to be understood as in any way guaranteeing that those expectations will turn out to be accurate. Future performance and the results actually achieved by Henkel AG & Co. KGaA and its affiliated companies depend on a number of risks and uncertainties and may therefore differ materially from forward-looking statements. Many of these factors are outside Henkel's control and cannot be accurately estimated in advance, such as the future economic environment and the actions of competitors and others involved in the marketplace. Henkel neither plans nor undertakes to update forward-looking statements.