Henkel AG & Co. KGaA Company Overview
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA is a German industrial and consumer-goods company headquartered in Düsseldorf. Founded by Fritz Henkel in 1876, the group today operates through Adhesive Technologies and Consumer Brands. Its industrial portfolio includes adhesives, sealants, functional coatings, specialty tapes and related materials used across automotive, electronics, packaging, construction, maintenance, aerospace and general manufacturing. Consumer Brands concentrates on Laundry & Home Care and Hair, including consumer and professional hair products. Henkel operates in more than 70 countries and employs around 47,000 people.
Henkel's strategic position combines a globally scaled B2B materials platform with branded consumer products. Adhesive Technologies is differentiated by application engineering across more than 800 industrial segments, while Consumer Brands combines formulation science, established consumer brands and large retail and salon channels. Management's Purposeful Growth agenda emphasizes a focused portfolio, innovation, sustainability, digitalization and more efficient operating models. By 2026, Henkel had moved from several years of consumer-portfolio consolidation into a more acquisition-led phase, adding specialty adhesives and premium hair-care platforms to strengthen its core categories.
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA Company Snapshot
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Parameter |
Information |
|---|---|
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Company Name |
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA |
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Headquarters |
Düsseldorf, Germany |
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Founded |
1876 |
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Chief Executive Officer |
Carsten Knobel |
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Ownership |
Publicly traded; Henkel-family interests retain significant voting influence |
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Listings |
German stock exchanges |
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Preferred Share Symbol |
HEN3 |
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Ordinary Share Symbol |
HEN |
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FY2025 Sales |
Approximately €20.5 billion |
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FY2025 Adjusted EBIT |
Approximately €3.0 billion |
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FY2025 Adjusted EBIT Margin |
14.8% |
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Employees |
Around 47,000 |
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Geographic Presence |
More than 70 countries |
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Business Units |
Adhesive Technologies; Consumer Brands |
Carsten Knobel has served as CEO since January 2020. Henkel's preferred and ordinary shares trade on German stock exchanges under HEN3 and HEN respectively. FY2025 group sales were approximately €20.5 billion, with adjusted EBIT of around €3.0 billion and an adjusted EBIT margin of 14.8%.
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA Business Structure and Competitive Position
Henkel operates through two global business units. Adhesive Technologies is organized around Mobility & Electronics, Packaging & Consumer Goods, and Craftsmen, Construction & Professional. Its businesses address industrial bonding, sealing, coating, repair and specialty-tape applications. Consumer Brands concentrates on Laundry & Home Care, Hair and selected other consumer businesses. The operating models differ materially: Adhesive Technologies works closely with OEMs, converters, contractors and industrial customers through technical qualification and application development, whereas Consumer Brands competes through brand equity, formulation innovation, distribution, marketing and professional salon relationships.
Henkel's competitive position in industrial materials derives from formulation expertise, application testing and customer qualification rather than adhesive chemistry alone. Bonding technologies must perform across substrates, production speeds, thermal conditions and durability requirements, particularly in electronics, automotive and packaging. The Düsseldorf Inspiration Center combines 34 laboratories with customer-development and automated-testing capabilities, while Shanghai provides semiconductor testing and other advanced-material development infrastructure. Consumer Brands adds category expertise in hair and laundry formulations. Henkel is strongest where technical application knowledge or consumer brand strength reduces direct price comparability.
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA Business Segments and Revenue Analysis
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Business Unit |
FY2025 Sales |
FY2025 Adjusted EBIT |
Principal Activities |
|---|---|---|---|
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Adhesive Technologies |
€10.667 billion |
€1.779 billion |
Adhesives, sealants, functional coatings and specialty tapes |
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Consumer Brands |
€9.677 billion |
€1.400 billion |
Laundry & Home Care, consumer and professional Hair, selected personal care |
Adhesive Technologies
Adhesive Technologies represented approximately 52% of Henkel's 2025 sales and generated a 16.7% adjusted EBIT margin. Its technologies serve more than 800 industrial segments, including automotive and electric mobility, electronics and semiconductors, packaging, consumer goods, construction, aerospace and industrial maintenance. The portfolio spans structural and pressure-sensitive adhesives, sealants, thermal-management materials, functional coatings and increasingly water-based specialty tapes. Its differentiation lies in technical qualification and application engineering: Henkel frequently develops materials around customers' specific substrates, assembly processes, cure conditions and durability targets. Brands such as Loctite support the business, but industrial performance and application expertise are generally more strategically important than consumer-style branding.
Consumer Brands
Consumer Brands generated €9.677 billion of FY2025 sales and €1.400 billion of adjusted EBIT, with its margin improving to 14.5%. The portfolio is centered on Laundry & Home Care and Hair, supported by brands including Persil, Schwarzkopf and all. Hair spans coloration, styling and care across mass-market and professional channels, while Laundry & Home Care includes detergents, fabric care, dishwashing and household-cleaning products. The business model relies on consumer insight, formulation development, retail distribution, salon relationships and brand investment. Following several years of portfolio consolidation, management is increasing exposure to premium and higher-growth hair categories through acquisitions, while remaining selective about lower-priority consumer activities.
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA Global Manufacturing and Geographic Footprint
Henkel operates production sites across 53 countries, with its broader workforce and commercial organization spanning more than 70 countries. Germany remains the principal corporate and innovation center. Düsseldorf houses the headquarters and the global Inspiration Center for Adhesive Technologies, where industrial customers work directly with Henkel scientists on bonding, sealing and coating applications.
North America is strategically important for both business units. Rocky Hill, Connecticut, serves as Henkel's North American regional headquarters and has longstanding links to Loctite adhesive technology, while Bowling Green, Kentucky is a major Consumer Brands manufacturing and logistics location for laundry and household products. Henkel is also developing a new Consumer Brands R&D center in Trumbull, Connecticut, while maintaining its Consumer Brands regional office in Stamford.
Asia is increasingly important for electronics, automotive and consumer categories. Shanghai hosts both an Adhesive Technologies Inspiration Center and Henkel's largest Consumer Brands R&D facility in Asia. Latin America is supported by regional production and application centers, including the new Adhesive Technologies Inspiration Center in Jundiaí, Brazil. The network allows Henkel to combine global technology platforms with regional manufacturing and customer-specific qualification.
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA Mergers, Divestitures and Portfolio Transformation
Henkel's portfolio activity accelerated materially in 2026. In Adhesive Technologies, it completed the acquisition of ATP Adhesive Systems, a Swiss specialist in water-based specialty tapes with approximately €270 million of expected 2025 sales and around 700 employees. The transaction creates a new specialty-tape growth platform across automotive, electronics, medical, construction and graphics applications. Henkel also became majority owner of UK façade-solutions manufacturer Wetherby Laroc.
Henkel separately agreed to acquire specialty-coatings producer Stahl for €2.1 billion. As of August 6, 2026, the transaction remained expected to close during the second half of 2026. Together with ATP, Stahl is intended to deepen Henkel's position in specialty coatings and adjacent adhesive technologies.
Consumer Brands is expanding simultaneously. Henkel acquired Not Your Mother's, which generated approximately €190 million of 2025 sales, and completed the acquisition of OLAPLEX in July 2026; OLAPLEX contributes approximately €370 million in annual sales and expands Henkel's premium professional hair-care exposure.
These additions follow earlier portfolio pruning. Henkel completed the April 2025 divestiture of its North American Retailer Brands business, while 2024 acquisitions included infrastructure-protection specialist Seal for Life and Vidal Sassoon's Greater China hair-care business. Henkel has moved from simplification toward targeted scale-building in premium hair care, specialty adhesives, tapes, coatings and construction technologies.
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