Henkel Tag

PARIS – Henkel AG has finalized the sale of its business activities in Russia to a consortium of local financial investors for 54 billion rubles, or $689.6 million, the group said Thursday. The German maker of Schwarzkopf, Dial and Diadermine products had announced on April 20  its signing of an agreement to sell that activity, following Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Also on Thursday, the Düsseldorf-based group reported first-quarter sales of 5.6 billion euros, up 6.4 percent on a reported basis and 6.6. percent in organic terms. The organic growth beat financial analysts’ consensus of 4.3 percent. “That’s a superb beat in itself, but is the bottom organic growth – even for consumer alone – and the smallest beat within the sector,” wrote Bruno Monteyne,...