Symrise has reported that it had a successful start into the fiscal year 2014. The company said that it benefited from persistent high demand in both divisions and increased sales to €470 million in the first quarter (Q1 2013: €458 million). Adjusted for currency translation effects, sales recorded an increase of 8%.
At the same time, Symrise boosted its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) by 9% to €101 million (Q1 2013: €93 million) and achieved an EBITDA margin of 21.5% compared to 20.3% in the same quarter of the previous year. Net income for the period increased significantly by 13% to about €52 million.
In April, Symrise announced the planned acquisition of the French Diana Group. With this transaction, which is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter, the company believes it is reaching an important milestone in the implementation of its growth strategy.
“In the first quarter, Symrise seamlessly continued its strong performance from the preceding fiscal year,” said Dr. Heinz-Jürgen Bertram, CEO of Symrise. “Demand from our customers remained at a high level. With the solid utilization of our capacities and an advantageous product mix, we achieved an excellent EBITDA margin. We also pursued our growth strategy at full speed and are taking a large step forward with the recently announced acquisition of the Diana Group. Within this context, we are expanding our market position, supplementing our portfolio of natural ingredients and are entering the highly profitable Pet Food market. We will also substantially expand our backward integration and secure our longterm access to important agricultural raw materials.”
In the first quarter, Symrise increased sales in the reporting currency by 2.6% to €469.6 million. At local currency, sales rose by 7.9%. In addition to good capacity utilisation in both divisions, the company said that it benefited from considerable growth in emerging markets.
The highest growth was achieved in the Latin America region where Symrise saw a sales increase of 15% in local currency. EAME and North America both recorded sales growth of 7% while the Asia/Pacific region grew sales by 6% at local currency.
Flavour & Nutrition generated sales of €215 million in the first quarter of 2014 (Q1 2013: €213 million). This corresponds to an increase of 6% in local currency. Similar to Scent & Care, emerging markets, Latin America in particular, made a significant contribution to this result.
Latin America posted the division’s strongest growth with a sales increase of 18% at local currency, benefiting especially from global and regional customers in the application areas Savory and Sweet. The second strongest region was EAME, which recorded a sales increase of 6% at local currency. Sales were developed particularly strong in the markets of Egypt, Russia, Nigeria and South Africa. North America achieved sales growth of 5% at local currency in the first quarter. The Asia/Pacific region, particularly the markets of Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Thailand, delivered good growth; sales in the region grew by 4% at local currency.
Symrise confirmed its outlook for the fiscal year 2014. The company said that it expects to see further solid demand and positive market developments in all regions and both divisions. Accordingly, Symrise is confirming its target to also outperform the global market for Fragrances and Flavors in 2014. Symrise furthermore is aiming at an EBITDA margin of more than 20%. The targets defined for the 2020 fiscal year continue to apply to the expanded Symrise, the company said, including the addition of the Diana Group: Symrise is aiming at an annual sales growth (CAGR) of between 5 and 7% and an EBITDA margin between 19 and 22%.
