Symrise records upturn in half-year financial performance
The Symrise ingredients and flavouring group has recorded a notable 7.4% upturn in half-year financial results, to €1.69 billion in sales across its international activities.
According to the business, all segments of the company, which includes developing ranges for use in confectionery and bakery applications, benefitted from higher customer demand, with a 6.2% increase in organic sales figures.
Symrise delivered EBITDA earnings of € 342 million, up 7.7% over the previous year’s level, boosted by a double-digit increase in organic sales for the company’s fragrance division.
In the first half of 2019, its flavour segment achieved organic sales growth of 3.7 % over comparable figures from the previous year. The Savoury business unit and the Asia/Pacific and EAME regions significantly increased sales. In the Sweet business unit, the increase in sales was modest after a strong level of momentum in the previous year. Accounting for currency translation effects, the segment’s sales in the reporting currency grew by 5.4 % to € 637 million (H1 2018: € 605 million).
The profitability of the Group remained at a high level with an EBITDA(N) margin of 20.8 % (H1 2018: 20.1 %).
“After a dynamic start to the year, we continued our growth and further expanded our business,” said the CEO of Symrise AG, Dr. Heinz-Jürgen Bertram.
“All segments increased sales and contributed to the Group’s growth. This positive development is accompanied by continued good demand from our customers. That is why we are looking ahead to the coming months with confidence, even if the economic prospects are slowing down in some regions of the world. Symrise has proven in the past that our business remains very robust even in such times. We therefore stand by our annual goals as well as our long-term ambitions. These goals include annual organic sales growth of 5–7 % on average by 2025.”
In the EAME region, the Flavour segment realised single-digit organic growth rates. Significant growth stimuli came from applications for savoury products in Russia and the Middle East.
The Asia/Pacific region recorded double-digit growth rates in the Beverage and Savoury products application areas. The markets of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam developed particularly well. Latin America also was also dynamic and achieved double-digit organic growth. The application areas for savoury and sweet goods did particularly well in Brazil, achieving double-digit growth.
In North America, sales growth was in the single digits. In particular, the savoury products application area developed positively. The EBITDA of the Flavour segment amounted to € 144 million in the reporting period (H1 2018: € 127 million), and grew 13.6 % compared to the prior year’s figure.
In the Food business unit, the regions of Asia/Pacific and Latin America posted double-digit growth, especially in China, Australia and Mexico. Sales in the EAME and North America regions fell slightly.
