Acquisition boosts Symrise results for first nine months of 2014
The company reported that sales for the first nine months of the financial year rose by 13% at local currency rates to €1.53bn, which represented an increase of 9% when taking into account the negative effect of currency translations.
The big hike was mainly reflected in the company’s flavours business, where the recent acquisition of the Diana Group back in July contributed significantly to the business performance in the last quarter.
Profit margins increase, too
During the nine months, EBITDA increased by 18% to €343.8m, a figure that was normalised for one-time effects from the Diana acquisition.
“In the first nine months of the year, we successfully used market opportunities, systematically pursued our strategy and further expanded our market position,” said Dr. Heinz-Jurgen Bertram, Symrise CEO.
“The Diana Group has been part of Symrise since July and we are successfully combining our activities. This will allow us to offer a much broader portfolio in the future and to make ourselves stand out in the market even more.”
Scent and care
Sales for the scent and care division during the first nine months of the year came in at €736.8m, which was level with the same corresponding period last year.
The company said the division saw significant gains in the emerging markets where sales grew by 12% in local currencies compared to the prior year, which means the percentage of income from those market is now 47% of the group revenues.
The figure was impacted by tough comparisons from big gains during the 2013 financial year, as well as a slower performance in the developed markets as well as the negative impact of currency translations. In local currencies sales for the division rose by 4%.
Positive outlook
On the back of the Diana acquisition the company believes that its momentum for the full financial year 2014 is in full swing, and says that despite geopolitical conflicts in certain markets, it is on track to achieve the goals it set earlier in the year.
Accordingly the company is expecting an EBITDA margin of more than 20%, and is now targeting a compound annual growth rate of between 19 to 22%.
