FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - More optimistic targets for the year as a whole pushed shares in Henkel close to last year's high of 78.84 euros on Friday morning. Most recently, the Düsseldorf-based company's shares were up a good six percent just below this level.

In the consumer sector, the first quarter went better than expected, wrote RBC expert James Edwardes Jones in his initial reaction to the key data. The fact that the margin target was raised in addition to the sales target is remarkable at this point in time. "It is now clear that profitability is recovering well," said the analyst./ag/jha/