Letter from the CEO
Dear Shareholders and Readers,
As we look back on 2024, there is no denying that the year was another challenging one, marked by economic and ongoing political unrest. Despite this, we continued to demonstrate our strength, our resilience, and our innovative prowess.
We have put our company on track for a successful future: In the reporting year, we updated our strategy. With “Win with Care” we are raising the bar for our performance and growth. It also clearly articulates our vision to be the best skin care company in the world. The past year gives me cause for optimism that we will achieve our bold aspiration.
Before I go into more detail on our strategy, let’s take a look back at the financial year that just ended. Beiersdorf sustained the excellent performance of recent years and again generated record sales in 2024. Once more, we saw rising demand in all regions. And we achieved healthy growth despite a difficult market environment. Success is no coincidence: it is driven by our strong brands, our innovative strength, and our exceptional international teams. With this combination, we demonstrate that we are a reliable, strong, and forward-looking partner for all our stakeholders.
Strong profitable growth leads to record sales
A glance at our financials confirms our outstanding performance in the 2024 financial year: In organic terms, Group sales rose by 6.5% year on year, reaching record total sales of €9,850 million (previous year: €9,447 million). Despite significant investments, we were able to increase our operating result (EBIT), excluding special factors, from €1,268 million in 2023 to €1,370 million in 2024, resulting in an improved EBIT margin of 13.9% (previous year: 13.4%). The main sales driver was our Consumer Business Segment. The strong performance of the NIVEA business (9.0% organic sales growth) as well as our Derma brands Eucerin and Aquaphor (10.6% organic sales growth) had a particularly large impact. Our tesa Business Segment generated sales of €1,688 million in a challenging market environment, equivalent to organic growth of 1.9%.
Beiersdorf’s shares were unable to fully maintain their strong performance from the previous year but reached a new all-time high of over €147.25 in the second quarter. At the end of the year, Beiersdorf’s shares closed at €124.00, a moderate decline compared to the previous year. Overall, we have increased the share price by more than 30% since I took over as CEO, outperforming the competition over the entire period (comparative period May 1, 2021 – Dec. 31, 2024).
In light of our positive business performance, Beiersdorf’s Executive Board and Supervisory Board will propose a dividend of €1.00 per dividend-bearing share to the Annual General Meeting.
We are raising the bar for our performance and success
Our business performance shows that we are on the right track. We won’t be resting on our laurels. Instead, we will be working hard in the years to come to achieve the vision to be the best skin care company in the world. To help us accomplish this, we updated our strategy over the past year. With “Win with Care” we focus on the following three areas:
- We want to be the undisputed authority in skin care.
- We want to be omnipresent for our consumers.
- We want to combine performance with purpose.
In our quest to be the undisputed authority in skin care, we are relying on our strong brands. We create skin care innovations that make a real difference in the lives of our consumers, focusing in particular on three key future-oriented areas of the skin care market: hyperpigmentation, aging skin, and acne. With our patented active ingredient Thiamidol® — a highly effective solution designed to reduce pigmentation marks — we have created a significant growth driver in the area of hyperpigmentation, which we will continue to expand worldwide. An example of this is China, where we were granted regulatory approval for Thiamidol® in November 2024 and expect to launch the first products in early 2026. Another success we can build on is our breakthrough in anti-aging solutions: After 15 years of extensive research in epigenetics, we set new standards in 2024 with our patented age clock technology and the active ingredient Epicelline® – leading to the launch of our first epigenetic skin care product, Eucerin Hyaluron-Filler Epigenetic Serum, in September 2024. This milestone further underscores our pioneering role in skin rejuvenation. It is also testament to our unique skin care expertise. What’s more, we are among the leading players in the field of microbiome research, particularly since the acquisition of S-Biomedic in late 2022. We are firmly convinced that in the years to come, we will be able to offer our consumers innovative skin care solutions that effectively address skin indications such as acne. Stay tuned for what’s coming!
Our “Win with Care” strategy helps us strengthen our presence in all strategic markets, categories, and segments. Our successful launch of Eucerin in India during the past financial year is a good example of how we are tapping into new growth areas in the skin care market and further boosting the face care category in particular. At the same time, we are strengthening our distribution channels, especially in the area of e-commerce, to increase our reach and connect even better with our consumers. This lays the foundation for further growth.
We are seeking to achieve profitable growth and increase the value of our company to ensure its future viability. With those goals in mind, we will focus on implementing the initiatives that offer the greatest potential for Beiersdorf – guided by the principle: “fewer, bigger, better.” Cost discipline and efficiency are crucial in strengthening the company in the long run.
But economic success alone is not enough for us. We are pressing ahead with our company’s sustainable transformation since we want to lead in climate action and champion a more inclusive society. We have set ourselves the target to achieve Net Zero by 2045. This means, we want to reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 90% (in absolute terms) and along our entire value chain (vs. 2018). This ambitious target has been validated and approved by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and is in line with the Paris Agreement. And we are progressing well and managed to achieve an absolute reduction of 25% GHG emissions across Scopes 1, 2, and 3 by the end of 2024. Crucial in this context is the transformation of our product portfolio. For example, we converted our blue NIVEA cream tin to 80% recycled aluminum. In addition, we re-invented our NIVEA Body Lotion assortment with improved formulas and developed lightweight packaging. One of our latest milestones is climate-neutral operations across our EU factories, just implemented by the beginning of 2025.
In addition to our climate goals, another important element for us is that our brands and activities make a tangible contribution to promoting a more inclusive society. Our products are not only designed for a wide range of skin indications, but also improve daily well-being, self-confidence, and ultimately quality of life. Our Eucerin brand, for example, takes an active stand against the stigmatization of people with chronic skin diseases. And in 2024, we launched our global mission “NIVEA CONNECT” to combat social isolation. To this end, we will support projects dedicated to this topic in 40 countries by 2026. We also offer our employees support and stability – especially in difficult times: With the introduction of our global “Critical Illness Policy,” we are there for them if they fall life-threateningly ill. The policy allows affected employees to focus entirely on their recovery without having to worry about their job or financial security.
Focus on digitalization – and a strong, diverse team
Our new strategy shows that we won’t rest on our past achievements. We want to make Beiersdorf even stronger. We want to contribute to society and the environment. And we want to secure and further improve our long-term success. This means that we need to leverage the potential of digitalization at all levels. In Marketing for example, we have introduced a strategic framework to test, scale, and implement generative and analytical AI tools in our daily operations. Currently, we leverage artificial intelligence (AI) for tasks such as content evaluation, target group analysis, and ad placement optimization. However, as outlined in our AI policy, we have made a clear decision never to use AI to create human skin, as we believe that skin is, and should remain, uniquely human.
Furthermore, last year, we again invested heavily in advancing digitalization in research and development. For example, we are increasingly using AI to accelerate efficacy studies and to optimize the speed, quality, and sustainability of our formula development. Our AI-based SKINLY study, a long-term, large-scale, global consumer skin care study, is also providing us with valuable insights for our research and development work. Likewise, we continuously invest in equipping our global production and distribution sites in line with the highest technology and environmental standards. One example is our new, state-of-the-art logistics center in Leipzig, Germany, whose groundbreaking ceremony took place in July 2024. The opening is expected to take place by 2027.
Aside from this ongoing digitalization, however, our shared success hinges on one thing above all: a strong team and an inclusive work environment in which everyone can perform at their best. Together with our corporate strategy, our Core Values act as our guiding light and remain our strong foundation — across teams, countries, and continents. Our aim is to stand out as an employer of choice for international talent. To this end, we foster diversity, equitable opportunities, and inclusion as integral components of our culture. In September 2023, we reached a milestone by achieving 50:50 gender parity within my Executive Committee leadership team and across all management positions worldwide — and we have sustained that momentum throughout 2024. Our progress is also evident in our Supervisory Board, where seven out of 12 members are now women. Looking ahead, our commitment extends to broader initiatives that go beyond gender. We are committed to breaking barriers and redefining inclusion. Therefore, we will increase the representation of people with disabilities within our company. We are conducting mandatory global leadership upskilling sessions to build and strengthen inclusive leaders, working with external disability inclusion partners, and supporting an active employee network focused on enhancing disability inclusion. The Beiersdorf Campus in Hamburg, which opened in 2023, was deliberately designed and built to be accessible, promoting inclusion in the workplace. At Beiersdorf, we will continue to turn bold aspirations into measurable progress and set new standards for equity and accessibility in the workplace.
We recognize that true equity is only achieved when it is accompanied by fair and equal conditions for all. That is why we have performed an audit in 2024 to assess the current state of equal pay at Beiersdorf. This initial audit spanned 50 countries, covering around 70% of our employees in Beiersdorf’s Consumer Business Segment. We identified an adjusted gender pay gap of 0.98%. This means that our female employees earn an average of 99 cents for every one euro earned by their male colleagues. According to 2024 Mercer Total Remuneration Surveys, the EU median in the FMCG sector stands at 2%. While our current standing is already better than the average, we still aim higher: In 2025, we will expand the audit to encompass all employees in our Consumer Business Segment worldwide. Additionally, we have set an ambitious goal to achieve global certification as a “Universal Fair Pay Leader” by 2026.
Getting future-ready to be the best skin care company in the world
Our strong financial performance in 2024 reflects our company’s particular strength and resilience. However, none of this would have been possible without our great teams all over the world! On behalf of the entire Executive Committee, I would like to thank all Beiersdorf employees for their extraordinary passion and commitment. You are the source of our success and together we will continue to surpass ourselves in the years to come and inspire our consumers throughout the world. Your dedication gives me great confidence that we will achieve our vision. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to you, dear shareholders, in particular for your trust and support over the past financial year. Many thanks also to all our business partners and consumers worldwide who place their trust in us every day.
Over the past year, we demonstrated once again that we are a reliable partner. We further developed our strategy to successfully position ourselves for the future. And we again proved our innovative prowess while further strengthening our business through consumer-focused actions and pioneering investments. Our ability to combine outstanding financial performance with responsible conduct lays the foundation for sustainable, competitive, and profitable growth. Our “Win with Care” strategy will help us accelerate this trend and continue our success in 2025. I am excited to take on the tasks that lie ahead of us – after all, we are in an excellent position to achieve long-term success.
As you can see, Beiersdorf is brimming with future potential. I invite you to accompany us on our journey to be the best skin care company in the world.
Yours,
Vincent Warnery
CEO