Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 22, 2026
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleEssity's Q4 earnings exceeded expectations due to lower costs, leading to a planned dividend increase.
By Vera Dvorakova
Jan 22 (Reuters) - Essity said on Thursday its product prices were 0.9% lower in the fourth quarter than a year earlier, causing an unexpected decline in the Lotus tissue maker's organic sales which also suffered from slightly weaker volumes.
Similarly to many other consumer goods companies, the Swedish hygiene product maker is restructuring its operations and battling lower consumer demand as shoppers trade down to cheaper private label goods.
Competition and price-sensitive consumers impacted organic sales especially in the consumer tissue business, CEO Ulrika Kolsrud said during an earnings call.
Sentiment in the U.S. hotel and restaurant sectors, which Essity supplies, is also at a "quite a weak level" and is expected to remain so in the short term, Kolsrud told Reuters.
Essity, whose consumer brands include Libresse and Tena, reported a 1.1% organic drop in quarterly sales to 34.7 billion Swedish crowns ($3.8 billion). Analysts from J.P. Morgan said the market had expected growth of 0.5%.
Shares of the company, which also supplies hygiene and cleaning products to businesses under the Tork brand, fell 4% by 0900 GMT.
Lower prices of consumer products may knock down like-for-like sales in 2026, even as cost of goods sold continues to decline, J.P. Morgan analysts said in a note to investors.
Essity expects slightly lower cost of goods sold in the first quarter of 2026, helped by savings and a positive currency exchange effect on raw materials, finance chief Fredrik Rystedt said in the call.
Its adjusted operating profit before amortisation (EBITA) rose to 5.12 billion crowns, beating analysts' average forecast of 5.04 billion crowns, LSEG's I/B/E/S data showed.
The board of directors will propose to increase the dividend for 2025 by 6% to 8.75 crowns per share, Essity said.
($1 = 9.0628 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Vera Dvorakova in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
A dividend is a payment made by a corporation to its shareholders, usually in the form of cash or additional shares, as a distribution of profits.
Earnings are the net profits of a company after all expenses, taxes, and costs have been deducted from total revenue, indicating the company's profitability.
Market expectations refer to the anticipated performance of a company or economy based on various indicators, influencing investor behavior and stock prices.
An earnings report is a quarterly or annual financial statement that provides details about a company's revenue, expenses, and profits, helping investors assess its performance.
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