News

Symrise sales top €2 billion for first time

11 Mar 2015

In the fiscal year 2014, Symrise says that it exceeded its targets and substantially expanded its market position, benefiting from good demand in all regions and in both segments as well as from a particularly strong performance in the fourth quarter. In addition, with the acquisition of the Diana Group in July 2014, Symrise says […]

Symrise sales top €2 billion for first time

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-rising-sales-image20970059In the fiscal year 2014, Symrise says that it exceeded its targets and substantially expanded its market position, benefiting from good demand in all regions and in both segments as well as from a particularly strong performance in the fourth quarter. In addition, with the acquisition of the Diana Group in July 2014, Symrise says it succeeded in entering the baby food and pet food markets and was able to expand its portfolio of natural ingredients.

For the full year, sales increased by 18% at local currency to €2,120.1 million (2013: €1,830.4 million), topping the €2 billion mark for the first time. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization as normalised for one-time effects from the acquisition and integration of Diana  increased by 24% to €464.5 million (2013: €373.1 million). With an EBITDAN margin of 21.9% (2013: 20.4%), Symrise says that it ranks again among the most profitable companies in the industry.

“2014 was a very successful year for Symrise,” said Dr. Heinz-Jürgen Bertram, Chief Executive Officer of Symrise. “We considerably expanded our market position in mature and emerging markets and significantly broadened our port-folio of natural ingredients through the acquisition of Diana. But, most importantly, we once more created value and substantially increased sales, earnings and profitability. As a result, we are in an excellent position, both strategically and financially, to continue our profitable growth in 2015 and to outperform the market again.”

Fourth-quarter performance was particularly strong, with a 35% increase in sales to €590.1 million (2013: €429.2 million) at local currency, 37% in reporting currency.

The strongest region in terms of sales growth in fiscal year 2014 was again Latin America, followed by EAME, with sales increases of 27% and 2%, respectively (both at local currency). The third-strongest region, with a gain of 17% at local currency was North America, followed by the Asia/Pacific region, where sales grew by 10%.

Excluding Diana, Flavor & Nutrition increased its sales by about 6%. At local currency, this represents sales of €905.8 million (2013: €869.9 million). In the reporting currency, sales were up by 4%.

Since July 2014, the sales and earnings contributions of the Diana Group have been consolidated in the segment’s results. Including Diana, Flavor & Nutrition increased its sales by 34% at local currency to €1,139.7 million (2013: €869.9 million).

For the months from July through December, Diana Group contributed an EBITDA of €48.8 million. The segment’s normalised EBITDA rose to €241.6 million (2013: €178.6 million) whilst its normalised EBITDA margin amounted to 21.2 % (2013: 20.5 %).

In the current fiscal year, Symrise said it expects to benefit from solid customer demand and high capacity utilisation in both segments as well as in mature and emerging markets. Prices of raw materials will continue to influence the cost development in 2015. Although the costs of chemical commodities were down at the end of 2014, prices of various agricultural raw materials showed significant increases. Consequently, Symrise expects continued volatility in raw material prices as well as certain currencies. According to estimates, the global market for fragrances and flavours is growing at 2 % to 3 % per year. For 2015, Symrise said it remains committed to its goal of growing faster than the market and achieving an EBITDA margin of more than 20 % for the Group.

Symrise confirmed the objectives defined for the fiscal year 2020, namely a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5 to 7% and an EBITDA margin in the range of 19% to 22%.