About Ulrika Kolsrud
Ulrika Kolsrud, President and CEO of Essity, reported the company’s second quarter 2026 results, highlighting positive organic sales growth driven by volume increases in three of four business units: health and medical, personal care, and professional hygiene. She noted that consumer tissue experienced lower sales. Kolsrud stated that profitability margins remained healthy but were slightly negatively impacted by geopolitical factors causing increased cost inflation. She said the company has implemented some price increases and agreed on others that will appear in the third quarter, adding that compensating for cost increases is a top priority and that Essity has a strong track record of doing so over time.
Kolsrud discussed several strategic initiatives, including a reorganization into four business areas with end-to-end accountability, a cost-saving program, and a sharpened innovation agenda. She also mentioned an acquisition in feminine care in North America and a strategic review of the consumer tissue business. Regarding the review, Kolsrud said the company is examining all options—divestiture, separation, or retention—and that the goal is to create the best conditions for both the consumer tissue business and the rest of Essity to develop to their full potential and maximize value creation. She cited the UK’s NHS introducing value-based procurement guidance for medical technology as a positive development for Essity’s holistic solutions.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Ulrika Kolsrud's recent appearances.
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Transcript (14 segments)
S
Sandra0:05
Hi Ulrika. Hi. New quarter, very nice to be here with you again. And a warm welcome to everyone for tuning in. This morning we published our Q1 results. How would you describe the start of the year for Essity and which developments do you see as most important?
U
Ulrika Kolsrud0:21
Well, we had a good start to the year. We delivered volume growth, we won market shares and we strengthened our profit margin. And if I were to pick out three highlights of the quarter, I would say that we turned to volume growth in professional hygiene. Also the strong growth momentum that we continue to have across geographies in wound care. And the strong growth that we have in feminine care where also leak proof apparel was contributing in the quarter.
S
Sandra0:52
A good start of the year. You sound satisfied.
U
Ulrika Kolsrud0:55
I'm not satisfied until we reach our financial targets which is to be above 3% in organic growth on a profit margin of at least 15%. So the work that we are doing to accelerate profitable growth, that continues.
S
Sandra1:10
You highlight the importance of being customer and consumer centric and to drive innovation. Already this quarter we launched four innovations. How do you expect them to be received?
U
Ulrika Kolsrud1:24
Well, one of the launches that you are referring to is that we now equipped our TENA ProSkin Brief in North America with our latest and greatest technologies when it comes to leakage security, dryness, fit and comfort. And research shows that the professional caregivers have a high preference for these products. Then when it comes to feminine care, we had an upgrade of our feminine care leak proof apparel assortment specifically designed for teens. And to have a specific range for teens is important for us in order to generate trial and capture consumers at the point of market entry. And then in baby care, we made our soft Libero touch product even softer and we know that parents want softness for the soft and delicate skin of their babies. So we have all the reasons to believe that this will support the strong momentum that we already have in our Libero business. And then lastly, you said four, right? And lastly, as you know Sandra, I really like our coreless technology on bathroom tissue. And it's also appreciated by consumers for its convenience. And now we bring that technology to household towels as well. So we were launching Seva Vision V Smart which was the first time we put this technology on household towels. So now less waste in the kitchen. So great number of innovations for wide range of people from babies to elderly. Yes.
S
Sandra2:57
And from innovations for everyday life, from that to the situation and the war in the Middle East. How is this impacting Essity?
U
Ulrika Kolsrud3:07
Well, it's a humanitarian crisis. So first and foremost, our thoughts are with the ones who are affected. Then from an Essity perspective, our exposure is quite limited. Our first priority is to make sure that the employees that we have in the region are safe. So we have employees in Dubai and in Saudi Arabia and they are all reported safe for now. Then second priority is to secure supply chains and at currently we have not seen any significant disruptions of supply chain. Basically, our biggest impact will be that we have cost increases for energy and for oil based raw materials.
S
Sandra3:48
Yes, how are we mitigating this?
U
Ulrika Kolsrud3:51
We are delivering cost savings in cost of goods sold. It's about being cost conscious. It's also about being flexible. That said, the primary mitigation is price increases. As always, we will compensate cost increases with price over time.
S
Sandra4:10
Looking further ahead, where are the biggest opportunities for Essity to create value?
U
Ulrika Kolsrud4:15
Well, continuing to grow in incontinence care across channels remains one of our biggest opportunities for value creation and the same goes for growing feminine care, wound care and our strategic segments in professional hygiene. Then also good opportunity for value creation is to expand margins in consumer tissue. So we have great opportunities for value creation across our four new business units, health and medical, personal care, consumer tissue and professional hygiene.
S
Sandra4:43
Thank you, Ulrika. We look forward to the growth journey ahead. Thank you.
U
Ulrika Kolsrud4:48
And thank you for watching. If you are interested in following us further, we have our Capital Markets Day coming up on May 7th. Join us then. Bye for now.
