Henkel has no plans to break up, its chief executive told a German newspaper, adding the German consumer goods group’s current structure gave it enough flexibility to grow.
Industrials groups around the world are grappling with shareholder pressure to reduce their complexity to create value and get rid of conglomerate discounts, leading some, including General Electric and Thyssenkrupp, to restructure.
“These trends and debates come and go. But we are generally sticking to our three business areas,” Hans Van Bylen told Sueddeutsche Zeitung in an interview.
“That translates into stability and balance. At the same time, all three areas have freedom and a clear focus on their markets and customers,” he added.
More than 61 percent of Henkel’s ordinary shares are owned by members of the Henkel family share-pooling agreement, making it less vulnerable to attempts by activist shareholders to push for change.
“We are very happy about that. The family is pursuing a long-term strategy. This provides us with stability to develop the group on a long-term basis,” Van Bylen said.
By Christoph Steitz
Source: Reuters
The future CEO of thyssenkrupp Uhde, Nadja Håkansson, has held various management positions at Siemens and Siemens Energy and looks back on over 18 years of national and international experience in the areas of supply chain management, operations, sales and corporate management.
Neste and South Korean company Lotte Chemical have partnered on a project to elevate the sustainability profile of chemicals and plastics. The partnership’s ambition is to replace fossil resources with renewable raw materials that offer a lower carbon footprint.
At least the confidence in the chemical sector has been seeing an upward trend and the trade balance is recovering as destocking seems to be coming to an end. Citing projections from the European Central Bank, CEFIC states that the level of inflation is expected to fall from 5.4% in 2023 to 2.3% in 2024.
