Nivea-maker Beiersdorf scraps 2020 outlook due to coronavirus crisis

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Nivea-maker Beiersdorf on Thursday scrapped its 2020 outlook due to the coronavirus pandemic, and also released preliminary first-quarter sales that showed a 3.6% fall from a year earlier.

“For the entire 2020 fiscal year, the company is unable to currently project the potential impact that the corona crisis could have on its business performance. For this reason, the targets set in the company’s guidance issued on March 3, 2020, are unlikely to be achieved,” the group said.

Preliminary sales for the first quarter fell 3.6% on a like-for-like basis to 1.91 billion euros ($2.07 billion), the group said, adding sales at the tesa business segment were down 5.1% in the period.

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz)