Beiersdorf sales slip as Nivea and La Prairie struggle in first quarter (updated)

Beiersdorf AG

21/04/2026 07:14

Recasts with management quotes in paragraphs 1-4, add detail on Europe pricing talks in paragraph 6.

Middle East crisis halved local sales growth for Nivea and Eucerin in March

Quarterly sales fall 4.6% organically; Nivea down 7%, La Prairie down 14.9%

Beiersdorf to use US tariff refund system, CFO Hermann says

By Bernadette Hogg and Orest Dovhan

April 21 (Reuters) - Beiersdorf BEIG.DE will consider hiking prices in the second half of the year if a prolonged Middle East crisis adds cost pressures, the Nivea-maker's finance chief Astrid Hermann said on Tuesday.

The conflict halved March sales growth of the Nivea and Eucerin brands in the Middle East, CEO Vincent Warnery said in a conference call. The region made up 3% of the group's sales in the first quarter.

The hit was felt in net sales, but sales from retailers to the final consumer have not suffered, Warnery said. The company has been finding ways to stock retailers in due time, rerouting as much as possible to reach customers, sometimes through "extremely creative" means, he added.

Hermann also said Beiersdorf would make use of the refund system set up to allow companies to recover illegally collected U.S. tariffs, despite the limited impact they had on it thanks to local production.

The consumer goods group reported an organic drop of 4.6% in its first-quarter sales to 2.48 billion euros ($2.92 billion), compared with 2.69 billion a year earlier.

Sales of its flagship skin and body care brand Nivea fell 7% organically due to pricing discussions in Europe, especially with French and German retailers calling for price cuts, and a challenging mass market.

The group was also hurt by a 14.9% organic drop in sales of luxury brand La Prairie after disruptions in sales to U.S. department store Saks Fifth Avenue and in travel retail in China, factors that the Hamburg-based company said were temporary.

Sales of the Eucerin and Aquaphor brands jumped 8.2% organically thanks to recent product innovations, Beiersdorf added.

The skincare company confirmed its guidance for 2026 and said positive dynamics in retailer-to-consumer sales indicated an improvement over the coming quarters, after underperformance in the first three months of the year.

($1 = 0.8489 euros)

(Reporting by Bernadette Hogg and Orest Dovhan, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)

((bernadette.hogg@thomsonreuters.com))