Slow Q1 for ingredients firm
It has been a slow start to the year for Chr Hansen, yet the firm’s outlook for 2013/14 remains unchanged.
CEO Cees de Jong says: “As expected Chr. Hansen experienced a slow start to the year 2013/14. Organic growth of 2% excluding carmine price effect was negatively affected by timing of orders and the loss of a customer in the Natural Colors Division in Q4 2012/13.”
He went on to say: “The EBIT margin before special items was 25.2%, which is broadly in line with last year, taking into account the negative impact from changed assessment of development costs. We maintain our outlook for the year with organic revenue growth of 7-9% and an EBIT margin before special items above 26%. We continue to implement our new Nature’s No. 1 strategy to take Chr. Hansen to the next level.
“Chr. Hansen has a strong balance sheet and remains committed to distributing excess capital to shareholders. To support this, the Board of Directors has decided to initiate a share buy-back program of up to EUR 80 million. The program is planned to be executed during the period from 15 January 2014 to 22 August 2014”.
For Q1 2013/14 revenue stood at €171 million, down 4% on the same period last year, and organic growth stood at only 1% (2% excluding carmine price effect.) The outlook for 2013/14 is unchanged from the announcement of 23 October 2013, except for the impact from special items on free cash flow, and organic revenue growth is expected to reach between 7-9%.
