• Robust organic sales growth of 3.3 percent
• Operating profit (EBIT) adjusted for foreign exchange: plus 2.5 percent
• Earnings per preferred share (EPS): plus 6.3 percent
• Growth regions: 16.2 percent organic sales growth

All-round praise for the Henkel Team at the first run of the Dakar Series. During the Central Europe Rally through Hungary and Romania Loctite and Teroson mechanicals supported the competitors actively. Together with the best drivers the Henkel Charlies pushed through to the finish line.

For the second time in as many years, Henkel will be on show and prominent at the world’s premier annual ice hockey event. Following its successful involvement in the 2007 “world cup” in Russia, the company is again stepping up as an official sponsor of the 72nd IIHF World Championship, scheduled to take place in Canada from May 2 to 18, 2008. For Henkel, this showcase in the home of ice hockey offers not only the advantages of association with an international sport event but also the possibility of significantly increasing the company’s awareness ratings in North America. During the competition, Henkel will be permanently present through its corporate brand supported by the product brands Purex (Laundry Care), Right Guard (Cosmetics) and Le Page (Adhesives).

In the fall of 2007, Henkel launched an international student competition under the name ‘Henkel Innovation Challenge’. Now the finals in Barcelona have just come to an end. Six teams of students from throughout Europe presented their ideas before an international jury comprised of Henkel managers. The challenge facing these young talents was to develop innovative products and business concepts for the laundry and home care segment of the year 2050. The eventual winners were the team from Spain studying at the ESADE Business School, Barcelona. These economics students presented a compelling concept involving a house-keeping robot, networked with the entire house using advanced technology. The German team from Berlin took second place. “Ultimately, however, all these students are winners. Because where else are these young people going to get such an opportunity to gather real business experience and make themselves known to an international company?” asked jury member Fridtjof Helemann, Corporate Vice President Human Resources at Henkel.

Henkel has been presented with the prestigious PR Report Award in recognition of its corporate brand communications strategy in the “Long-term PR Strategy” category. The prize was awarded for the systematic strategy for the long-term establishment and strengthening of the Henkel corporate brand worldwide. This is the sixth time that specialist trade magazine “PR Report” has recognized outstanding communication campaigns in the German public relations industry.

Diisobutyl phthalate (DiBP), a plasticizer frequently used until now in adhesives for the paper converting industry, is suspected of being harmful to health. The German manufacturers and processors of paper, board and cardboard have therefore undertaken to stop using products containing DiBP. To protect consumers in the long term, Henkel has now come up with a solution – the Adhesin A 78 Series, a new generation of plasticizer-free adhesives formulations for all applications in the paper and packaging industry.

For decades, Henkel has been an active proponent of sustainability and corporate social responsibility. This includes committing to the use of renewable raw materials and promoting resource conservation. Whenever palm oil is in discussion, reference is constantly made to the felling of the rainforests. It is the mission of the “Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil” (RSPO) to ensure that commercialized palm oil satisfies certain key sustainability criteria. Right from the start, Henkel has supported this process, participating in meetings and contributing its expert knowledge to the ensuing debate. As a visible symbol of this engagement, Henkel joined the international RSPO as an official member in April 2008.

Today’s Annual General Meeting of Henkel KGaA in Düsseldorf provided around 2500 shareholders with an overview of the company’s development and performance in fiscal 2007.

Henkel has taken over from Akzo Nobel the Adhesives and Electronic Materials businesses previously owned by National Starch. “This acquisition represents a milestone in our 130-plus-year corporate history and points Henkel clearly in the direction of further profitable growth,” said Ulrich Lehner, Chairman of the Management Board of Henkel KGaA. The acquisition was preceded by the carve-out of the businesses to be acquired by Henkel and the requisite antitrust and anticompetitive investigations by the relevant authorities.

Henkel announces the launch of a new conversion coating process called TecTalis. This breakthrough multi-metal pre-treatment technology replaces Zinc Phosphate by offering significantly reduced process cost and environmental footprint. TecTalis has been enthusiastically received by the automotive and durable goods industry.

After the cancellation of the Dakar Rally 2008 – a decision fully respected by Henkel – Henkel continues its successful partnership with off-road racing as Official Partner to the Central Europe Rally. At the first run of the new Dakar Series the company’s brands Loctite® and Teroson will again be part of one of the most challenging rally-raids.

Better for the laundry, better for the environment – that is the new “Persil – better than ever from 20°C”. From April 2008, Persil with its high-performance active stain remover will be offering even better results from just 20°C, enabling the laundry to be washed at low temperatures – with proven Persil cleanliness still abounding, of course. Hence, with Persil, it is possible to both save energy and spare the environment.

Energy consumption down 21 percent, water consumption down 15 percent, and waste down 32 percent – profit and sales up. These are three results of Henkel’s sustainability performance over the past five years, as presented today at a Sustainability Press Conference. By the year 2012, Henkel intends to reduce its energy consumption by another 15 percent, and achieve further reductions of 10 percent in water consumption and waste generation, per metric ton of output in each case. Using its laundry and homecare products as examples, Henkel also demonstrated how these can help to save energy, for instance by washing laundry at temperatures as low as 20 degrees Celsius.

Henkel has always been committed to ensuring both the quality of its brands and the sustainability of its operations. Under the ‘Quality and Responsibility’ banner, Henkel has now launched a comprehensive quality and sustainability initiative, with all laundry and home care products from Henkel aligned to exceptional product performance combined with the best possible environmental compatibility. This means, for example, ensuring maximum savings in water and energy consumption not only in production but also in the consumers’ usage of the end product. One of the prerequisites for this will, of course, be the incorporation of renewables in production, the use of recycled materials for product packaging and the introduction of specifically designed dosage and metering aids. In sharpening its focus on the twin aspects of brand performance and environmental compatibility, Henkel sees enormous potential for driving forward the development of innovative products.

The outstanding achievements by Henkel towards sustainable development have once again been honored by an independent body: Henkel is the winner of the “ESG Award 2008” in the category DAX (German Share Index) Businesses. On the occasion of a festive ceremony, CFO Dr. Lothar Steinebach and Dr. Wolfgang Gawrisch, CTO Research/Technology and Chairman of Henkel’s Sustainability Council accepted the prize yesterday evening in Frankfurt am Main.

For the last ten years, Henkel has been supporting its employees and pensioners involved in volunteer social work. By establishing the MIT (Make an Impact on Tomorrow) Initiative 1998, Henkel became one of the very first German companies to declare the honorary social involvement of employees and pensioners to be a key element of its corporate culture and corporate social responsibility commitment. Henkel employees and pensioners are involved in doing volunteer social work across the entire globe. These initiatives are as diverse as the people themselves who coordinate and take responsibility for them. The spectrum of projects ranges from computer courses for senior citizens in Düsseldorf and a therapy center for babies in South Africa to the Riverbend environmental project for children in American cities.

Over 1,000 students from six European countries submitted their ideas for the international student competition “Henkel Innovation Challenge”. The challenge facing these young talents was to develop innovative products and business concepts for the laundry and home care segment of the year 2050. Recently, Henkel invited the ten best teams from Germany for a day-long national final in Düsseldorf. The students presented their ideas to a high-caliber jury of Henkel managers, impressing with their creativity and professionalism. The winning team from Berlin will be meeting its European counterparts at the international final to be held in Barcelona in April.

Craftsmen and do-it-yourselfers can breathe easily again. With the development of a new technology, Henkel has succeeded in reducing by up to 90 percent the dust evolution that arises when preparing and using cement-based products. In the vanguard of a new generation of low-emission powder products from Henkel, the company’s tile adhesives under the Ceresit brand and the Thomsit smoothing compound for floor and substrate preparation have already caused quite a furore in the building trade – and this years’ planning is promising: Henkel will expand its portfolio of low-emission powder products to a system solution.

• Sales up 2.6 percent to 13.07 billion euros
• Organic sales growth of 5.8 percent
• Operating profit (EBIT): up 3.5 percent to 1,344 million euros
• Net earnings for the year: up 8.0 percent to 941 million euros

“Once again, we achieved a good performance in 2007. Our organic sales growth and further increase in profits were encouraging. All our business sectors contributed to this success and we maintained sales momentum in our growth regions,” commented Ulrich Lehner, Chairman of the Management Board of Henkel KGaA. “These results demonstrate the effectiveness of our strategy of focusing on our core businesses while striving for innovation leadership in each of our markets.”

Against the background of changing market conditions, especially with regard to ever stronger competition and increasing cost pressure, caused among others by markedly rising raw material prices, the Management Board of Henkel KGaA has decided the basics of an efficiency enhancement program.

The film world has its Oscar, and Henkel has its Fritz Henkel Award for Innovation: the highest honor conferred on Company employees. Every year, this award is presented to teams composed of researchers, product developers and marketing experts who have achieved outstanding market success with forward-looking products. This year’s award ceremony took place on Henkel Innovation Day. Celebrated for the first time on February 14 at all Company sites in the 125 countries around the world in which Henkel operates, the global motto for this day is “Let’s innovate!”

Alois Linder (60), Executive Vice President Adhesives Technologies will resign from his office as member of the Henkel Management Board at his own request effective September 30, 2008. Thomas Geitner (52) has been appointed his successor. Geitner will join the Henkel Management Board effective March 1, 2008 and will assume responsibility for the Adhesives Technologies business sector on October 1, 2008.

Dr. Juliane Wiemerslage has joined Henkel as Corporate Senior Vice President Human Resources. She reports directly to Kasper Rorsted, Vice Chairman of the Henkel Management Board.

At the 2008 SDA (Soap and Detergent Association) Annual Meeting and Industry Convention, January 29 to February 2, 2008 in the United States (Florida) Henkel Laundry & Home Care awards prizes to two outstanding suppliers. The “Best Innovation Contributor 2007” goes to Clariant for the best contribution of an external partner delivering outstanding consumer-relevant innovation that resulted in a product of highest market value. The “Best Supply Performance 2007” is awarded to Evonik Degussa for its outstanding supply performance.

The latest reports on the plasticizer diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP), which can migrate from paper and board packages and accumulate in the packaged foods, have alerted food and packaging manufacturers. The plasticizer can come from sources such as dispersion adhesives, which are frequently used in the packaging industry. To protect the consumer from possible risks, Henkel has developed novel dispersion adhesives that are entirely free of plasticizer.

The first Henkel Innovation Letter in 2008 informs concisely about the different innovations made in the business sectors Laundry & Home Care, Cosmetics/Toiletries and Adhesives Technologies.

The jurors of the Research/Technology Invention Award 2007 found it no easy task to pick the winners among more than 20 highly promising projects. Finally, eight interdisciplinary project teams were chosen to receive the coveted prize. The diversity of the inventions reflects the powerful research capabilities within Henkel and the broad scope of its scientific base.

Over the next ten days, the attention of Europe’s sports fans is likely to turn toward northern Europe. Following the ladies’ world handball championship in France at the end of last year, the best men’s European national teams are now due to meet head to head in Norway. The matches making up the European Handball Championship will be taking place in five Norwegian cities from 17 to 27 January. Federal coach Heiner Brand’s German national team counts among the favorites after their victory in the World Handball Championship of 2007. Henkel’s involvement in the sport of handball has a certain tradition and the company will again be present and visible in Norway.

 In line with its global strategy to focus on its core businesses and phase out marginal positions Henkel has sold its industrial water treatment business to BK Giulini, Ludwigshafen, Germany, an affiliate of Israel Chemical Ltd. (ICL).

As Official Partner of the Dakar Rally Henkel fully understands the organizer’s decision to cancel this year’s edition. The traditional desert race was called off immediately before the start because of a terrorist threat. Henkel had planned to send its Loctite, Teroson and Pattex branded products to the fourth encounter with the Dakar.

Extending its commitment for the fourth encounter with the Dakar, Henkel is sending its Loctite brand as Official Partner to the 2008 anniversary edition of this spectacular event, supported by the Teroson and Pattex brand as Official Supplier.