News
Naturex halts decline
28 May 2015Naturex has reported that it has halted its decline in organic growth after four consecutive quarters. Consolidated revenue for 1Q15 was €98.6 million, up 23.9% from a year earlier. This increase reflected both the impact of acquisitions with a contribution from Vegetable Juices (€9.6 million at constant exchange rates) and a currency effect resulting in particular from the […]
Naturex has reported that it has halted its decline in organic growth after four consecutive quarters. Consolidated revenue for 1Q15 was €98.6 million, up 23.9% from a year earlier. This increase reflected both the impact of acquisitions with a contribution from Vegetable Juices (€9.6 million at constant exchange rates) and a currency effect resulting in particular from the US dollar’s rise over the period (€9.4 million);
Nutrition & Health is now back on track, Naturex said, with positive organic growth attributable in particular to the plan launched in the US at the end of 2014 to recapture growth along with good performances in the Asia-Pacific region. Europe remains a major focus of attention and a plan for re-energizing business development has already been launched.
Food & Beverage is said to be performing well in the United States, benefiting from both the strong contribution by Vegetable Juices. and also the continuing market transition in favour of natural foods. Europe, in contrast, was adversely impacted by the high base effect in relation to the 2014 first quarter in an environment that is still sluggish, the company said.
The Personal Care business has virtually doubled in size, confirming the pertinence of Naturex’s range positioning with a targeted customer base of leading cosmetic industry names, according to the company.
The measures of Naturex’s “Conquest, Cash & People” plan are said to be starting to yield results. While group operating margins were impacted significantly in 2014 by exceptional items registered in the fourth quarter, strict discipline applied across all operations has yielded the first encouraging signs in the quarter. Consolidated gross margin amounted to €56.1 million, up 13.5% from the 2014 first quarter. Gross margin as a percentage of sales was 56.9% compared to 62.1% a year earlier, or down 5.2 points, reflecting a currency effect (-0.2 point) linked in particular to the Swiss franc’s rise, increasing the production costs of Swiss manufacturing sites when translated in the group’s financial statements. The US dollar’s rise since the 2014 fourth quarter should result in a better contribution to the gross margin in the 2015 second quarter, Naturex believes.
Recurring EBITDA amounted to €14.1 million, up 6.4%, with a recurring EBITDA margin at 14.3% compared to 16.6% in the 2014 first quarter.
“The 2015 first quarter confirmed the positive effects resulting from the adoption of our ‘‘Conquest, Cash & People” plan. This renewed growth and improvement in our operating profitability coming after the heavily impacted previous year, illustrate our responsiveness and the commitment of Group teams to the principles of financial and operational discipline,” said Olivier Rigaud, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Naturex.
“Consolidating organic growth by hard-hitting commercial initiatives, along the lines of our successes in Nutrition & Health in the United States, improving performances by generating value from our investments notably in India and Chile and continuing efforts to control operating expenses and staff costs are necessary conditions for activating the drivers for sustainable profitability beginning in the second half of 2015.”