The Henkel Group sells many well-known brands: Persil, Schwarzkopf, Pritt. Now the company wants to save millions by combining parts of the business. 2,000 jobs have also been affected.

Consumer goods group Henkel expects to save millions from the merger of its consumer goods business. 2,000 jobs around the world are also affected, the company announced in Düsseldorf on Thursday.

This mainly applies to sales and administration. Gross savings from the merger of the detergent, cleaning agents and cosmetics businesses are expected to be around EUR 500 million in the medium term.

The synergy should primarily result from improvements in sales and administration structures as well as production and logistics as well as advertising and marketing. In the first phase, net savings of about EUR 250 million are to be achieved on an annual basis by the end of 2023.

Henkel estimated a one-time expense of 350 million euros for the first phase. In addition, the portfolio has to be further cleaned up and businesses operating below expectations are to be sold or closed. Shops and brands with sales of up to one billion euros are up for grabs.

Earlier in the year, Henkel announced that it intended to merge the two consumer divisions to boost growth and profitability.