Symrise Discloses 2020 Sales Figures, Confirms Profitability Target

Symrise faced a cybersecurity attack in mid-December 2020, which temporarily caused significant disruptions.
Symrise faced a cybersecurity attack in mid-December 2020, which temporarily caused significant disruptions.

Symrise AG has announced its sales figures for the 2020 financial year, achieving organic sales growth of 2.7% despite both a cybersecurity attack and the COVID-19 pandemic. Symrise will publish the audited, complete corporate and financial report for the 2020 fiscal year on March 9, 2021.

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Symrise faced a cybersecurity attack in mid-December 2020, which temporarily caused significant disruptions to business operations. This one-time effect is reflected in the sales figures of the fourth quarter with an organic growth of 0.7%. 

Group sales in reporting currency went up 3.3% to €3.521 billion, taking negative currency translation effects of €152 million into account. 

Symrise's goal is to increase its annual sales from €5.5 to €6.0 billion by 2025. Symrise wants to achieve this with annual organic growth of 5% to 7% (CAGR) as well as additional targeted acquisitions. In the medium term, profitability should remain within a target corridor of 20% to 23%.

With respect to the profitability target, Symrise expects an EBITDA margin at the lower end of the guidance range of 21% to 22%.

Heinz-Jürgen Bertram, CEO of Symrise AG said, "Symrise maintained a very solid performance in a market environment impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. We were well on track until mid-December 2020 when we became the target of a criminal cyber-security attack with blackmailing intent. It was out of question for us to give in. As a consequence,our business operations were at times severely restricted and we were therefore not able to fully achieve our growth targets. However, we follow a clear ethical compass and reject any form of criminal fraud or extortion. Although there were some delays in production and logistics, customers and business partners encouraged us in our position and we expressly thank them for that. Our business operations are meanwhile largely back to normal, and we are proceeding at high speed to clear the backlog of orders,"

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