Henkel raises earnings forecast despite tough market

German consumer goods maker Henkel raised its forecast for full-year earnings per share on Tuesday after it reported third-quarter underlying sales growth of 3 percent in what it called an "increasingly challenging environment".

German consumer goods maker Henkel raised its forecast for full-year earnings per share on Tuesday after it reported third-quarter underlying sales growth of 3 percent in what it called an "increasingly challenging environment".

Henkel stuck to its standard forecast for organic or underlying sales growth in 2017 of 2 to 4 percent, but said it now expects increase of around 9 percent in adjusted earnings per preferred share, up from a previous 7 to 9 percent.

However, it warned that difficult conditions in the consumer goods market were likely to persist and said "currency effects will have an increasingly negative impact".

Known for laundry detergent Persil, beauty line Schwarzkopf and adhesives brand Loctite, Henkel said quarterly earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), adjusted for one-offs, rose 7 percent to 897 million euros (799.00 million pounds) on sales of 4.981 billion euros, missing average analyst estimates for 907 million and 5.1 billion respectively.