By Louis van Boxel-Woolf and Eva Orsolya Papp
(Reuters) -German skincare company Beiersdorf raised its 2024 sales guidance on Tuesday, citing a strong first-quarter for its Nivea brand in all regions while Chinese demand for its top-end products also began to recover.
Beiersdorf, where Nivea accounted for just under half of sales last year, now expects 2024 sales to grow by 6-8%, up from the "mid-single-digit" growth forecast in February.
First quarter revenue of 2.6 billion euros ($2.76 billion) was up 7.3% on the same period of last year, beating the 6.2% growth expected by analysts polled by Vara Research.
Both volume and pricing drove Nivea's sales growth in the first three months of the year, CEO Vincent Warnery said on a call with analysts.
Global sales of Beiersdorf's luxury La Prairie brand rose 1% in the quarter helped by a rebound in Chinese demand which is boosting the skincare industry more broadly after a weak 2023.
Warnery hailed the start of a "complete turnaround" for La Prairie after a 15.4% decline in sales in 2023.
In China, La Prairie sales rose 14%, while derma brands Eucerin and Aquaphor were up 13% and Nivea saw "double-digit" growth, Warnery told analysts.
L'Oreal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus told analysts in February that the Chinese market had been "pretty positive" in the first month of 2024.
Overall sales at Beiersdorf's consumer skincare division rose 10% in the first quarter, offsetting a 5.4% decline in its Tesa division, which makes adhesives for consumers and industry.
That was mainly attributable to weakness in the electronics division in North America and Asia, Beiersdorf said.
Beiersdorf's shares were up 1% at 0805 GMT, making the firm the second-best performer on Germany's blue chip DAX index.
($1 = 0.9418 euros)