(Reuters) -German consumer goods company Henkel on Thursday slightly raised its guidance for the year, saying strong pricing helped third-quarter growth.
The group raised the lower end of its guidance for full-year organic sales growth, now expecting an increase of 3.5% to 4.5% compared with a previous target of 2.5% to 4.5%.
It now sees an adjusted return on sales (EBIT margin) in a range of 11.5% to 12.5%, having previously targeted 11.0% to 12.5%.
Shares in Henkel rose 3.4% in pre-market trade at brokerage Lang & Schwarz.
Quarterly sales came in at 5.4 billion euros ($5.78 billion), up 2.8% organically, and in line with a 5.45 billion average estimate by analysts in a poll provided by the company.
"For the quarter ahead, we expect a further sequential improvement,” said CEO Carsten Knobel in a statement.
($1 = 0.9340 euros)
(Reporting by Linda Pasquini, editing by Kirsti Knolle and Maria Sheahan)
