Due to the economic crisis, Beiersdorf subsidiary Tesa (Hamburg / Germany; www.tesa-ag.de) may cuut personnel and close some German sites. The company, said CEO Thomas Schlegel, would take a very close look at the plant at Harrislee, the logistics sites in Stuttgart and Offenburg, and other individual international plants "to assess their strategic importance". Around 400 of the company's total global workforce of 3,900 will be affected. At the same time, a temporary 10% reduction in working hours and remuneration is planned at the Tesa headquarters in Hamburg.

In Harrislee, 52 employees produce adhesive tape products such as "Powerstrips" and "Tesamoll" as well as double-sided mounting tapes for the consumer segment. In Stuttgart, 70 employees look after around 50% of sales in Europe. Tesa introduced short-time working for certain plants in February and March.

In 2008, the company posted sales of EUR 860.1m (EUR 856.2m in 2007). Europe remained stable at its previous year's level with sales of EUR 634.9m. Business in the Americas was hit by the weakness of the dollar and fell back 3.1% compared with 2007 to EUR 89.5m. On the other hand, the growth markets of Asia, Africa and Australia recorded an increase of 7.1% to EUR 135.7m. Tesa's operating result (EBIT) was EUR 83m (EUR 88m), with pre-tax profit standing at EUR 80.3m (EUR 86.5m). This left net profit of EUR 53.4m (57.6m).

In the first quarter of 2009, Tesa sales were down 23% on the same period of 2008 at EUR 171m. EBIT fell by EUR 23m to EUR 1m. For the year as a whole, Thomas B. Quaas, CEO of the Beiersdorf group, forecasts a "slight operating profit." Investment, including the business with Labtec transdermal therapeutic systems, is to be continued on the planned scale despite the crisis. Tesa will spend EUR 12m at its Hamburg plant on expanding the "Labtec" product range it acquired in 2008.