Vienna/Düsseldorf - Handball counts among the most popular ball sports in the world. A total of 16 million German TV viewers watched the World Championship final in 2007 between Germany and Poland. This was the first time that a handball match had headed the list of most watched sports broadcasts in a year. Now the eyes of international sports fans are turning to Norway, for it is here that the 16 best European national teams will be meeting head to head from 17 to 27 January. Given that the best seven handball nations are all European, viewers and spectators can look forward to a real handball feast.

Henkel's involvement in the sport of handball has a certain tradition. Following the World Championship in Tunisia in 2005, and the 2006 European Championship in Switzerland, the company was again prominent as a sponsor for the World Championship held in its home country, an event crowned on February 4, 2007 with an exciting victory by the German team under trainer Heiner Brand. Now in Norway, the Henkel logo will again be on view both on the advertising hoardings and on the hall floor in the goal area. The referees will also be sporting on their jerseys the slogan “A Brand like a Friend” of the Düsseldorf consumer goods manufacturer. As a sport, handball is extremely popular in markets of importance for Henkel such as Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.

Henkel Central Eastern Europe (Henkel CEE) with its headquarters in Vienna coordinates the company's business operations in 30 countries throughout Central and Eastern Europe as well as in Central Asia. Henkel CEE is a top provider of detergents, cleaners and cosmetics products. It is also market leader for hair cosmetics and adhesives as well as in the surface treatment segment. In the year 2006, Henkel CEE employed a work force of over 8,760 people, posting revenues of 1.881 billion Euro. Henkel products have been available in Austria for 120 years. The company has been manufacturing at its business location in Vienna since 1927.

For more than 130 years, Henkel has been a leader with brands and technologies that make people's lives easier, better and more beautiful.  Henkel operates in three business areas - Home Care, Personal Care, and Adhesives Technologies - and ranks among the Fortune Global 500 companies. In fiscal 2006, Henkel generated sales of 12.740 billion euros and operating profit of 1,298 million euros. Our 52,000 employees worldwide are dedicated to fulfilling our corporate claim, "A Brand like a Friend," and ensuring that people in more than 125 countries can trust in brands and technologies from Henkel.