Beiersdorf profit slumps 33%

DUSSELDORF, Germany: Beiersdorf AG, the German maker of Nivea skin creams, said 2009 profit fell about 33 percent as sales of beauty products and adhesive tapes slumped in the economic crisis.

Net income dropped to 379 million euros ($550 million) from 567 million euros in 2008, the Hamburg-based company said yesterday, citing provisional figures. That missed the 399 million-euro average of 12 analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Excluding one-time items, last year's profit was 490 million euros.

Western Europeans cut back spending on the company's beauty products, Beiersdorf said. The division's sales dropped 2.2 percent while the Tesa adhesive-tape unit's revenue fell 13 percent. About four-fifths of Tesa's revenue comes from industrial customers, who have been trimming orders in the year, the company had said earlier.