Henkel, an international company headquartered in Dusseldorf, Germany, has announced the resumption of two of its four factories in Ukraine.
According to a press release, the decision to resume production of the international company Henkel in Ukraine is made by the local leadership of Henkel Ukraine, based on the current military-operational situation.
The plant in the Lviv region, which specializes in the production of building mixtures of the Ceresit brand, was the first to resume operations.
Soon Henkel plans to resume the activities of the company’s plant in Vyshgorod, Kyiv region.
In total, Henkel Bautechnik (Ukraine) manages four factories in the country for the production of building mixtures. The company has suspended the work of all production facilities since the beginning of the war – on February 24, 2022.
At the moment, the work of two other production facilities is impossible, since they are located on the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russian troops in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions.
As noted in the release, to support its employees and their families, Henkel has fully maintained the payment of wages, even despite the temporary suspension of production.
In the early days of the war, Henkel launched a solidarity aid program worth more than EUR1 million, most of which went directly to more than 600 employees as emergency financial assistance. Henkel also provided safe housing for its employees and their families forced to leave Ukraine.
At the same time, Henkel has expanded its solidarity program to a total of more than EUR5 million, including product donations and comprehensive collaboration with long-term social partner Habitat for Humanity.
In early March, Henkel announced that it was stopping new investments in the Russian Federation, as well as stopping advertising campaigns in state media and all sponsorship activities. Subsequently, the company officially announced the decision to stop its activities in the Russian Federation.
Henkel Bautechnik (Ukraine) plans to invest around EUR 400,000 in the modernization of plants in Vyshgorod (Kyiv region) and Balakliya (Kharkiv region).
“The automatic line will be modernized at the plants in Vyshgorod and Balakliya from May of the current year, resulting in increased effectiveness and safety. The quality of product packaging will also improve. The amount of investment is about EUR 400,000,” Director General of Henkel Bautechnik (Ukraine) Olha Stupina told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to her, the company’s turnover in 2018 amounted to UAH 2 billion, forecasts for 2019 are positive, growth is expected. The company has significantly increased its financial performance compared to 2014, despite the loss of a quarter of the sales market.
“We estimate the results of last year as good. For the second time, Ukraine became the best company in the world in the Henkel adhesive division by consolidated financial indicators. I believe that in the conditions in which Ukraine is located relative to other countries of Europe and the world, this is a very big achievement,” Stupina said.
The total production capacity of the four factories of Henkel Bautechnik (Ukraine) is about 600,000 tonnes of products per year.
In the market of water-dispersion paints with a volume of about 150,000 tonnes, the share of Henkel Bautechnik (Ukraine) is about 17%, the press service of the company said.
