The Symrise Group has posted its Q1 2019 financials with sales increasing by 9.3 % to €848.8 million, opposed to €776.9 million from Q1 2018.
"We are off to a dynamic start into the year and consider ourselves very well positioned with our strong market presence," said Heinz-Jürgen Bertram, CEO of Symrise AG. "Our targeted capacity expansion measures continue to pay off. This has been accompanied by consistently good demand from our customers. Once again, all segments achieved gains and contributed to the growth of the Group. Despite the cautious economic outlook, we are confident about the development of our business in the coming months. We have substantiated our full-year guidance and our long-term ambitions with the updated targets. Extending through to 2025, they call for an annual organic growth of 5–7 % (CAGR)."
Strong Demand in Scent & Care
While growth was strong across all segments and helped by demand, the scent and care segment achieved the highest growth rates for the quarter. The segment increased sales by 10.7 % to €367.3 million, as opposed to Q1 2018 results of €331.8 million. Organic sales grew 9.1%.
Growth for the segment was largely driven by the fine fragrance application area and its consumer fragrances business, which include beauty care and home care. For both application areas, sales were up by double-digit percentages, while its oral care business achieved high single-digit growth with EAME regions and North America leading the way. Additionally, its cosmetic ingredients division saw strong sales growth, and its aroma molecules division benefited from strong demand for fragrance ingredients and menthol in EAME and Asia Pacific regions.
Related: Symrise Perfumery School Graduates 7 Fragrance Creators
Flavors Grow Globally
Strong growth was also seen in the company’s flavor segment. Sales increased by 8.3 %, or a 6.7% organic growth rate, to €315.6 million, as opposed to Q1 2019 results of €291.2 million.
Per region, EAME saw strong growth in applications for beverages and savory products, particularly in Germany, Russia, Ireland and UK markets. Beverages and savory products applications also grew in Asia Pacific regions, especially in Indonesia, Thailand and India, and registered either high single-digit or double-digit percentage growth. In North America, sales of the beverage business grew due to new business with global and regional customers, while Latin America saw double-digit percentage gains in all application with particularly strong growth in Brazil and Mexico markets.
Pet Food and Probiotics
Growth was also seen in the company’s nutrition segment, which includes its Diana division of food, pet food, and probiotic applications. Sales for the quarter increased by 7.9% to € 165.9 million, as opposed to €153.8 million Q1 2018.
In the food applications segment, sales increased by a moderate pace led by Asia Pacific and Latin America growth with Australia, Indonesia and Mexico leading the growth. The pet food business showed double-digit growth driven by rising customer demand, price adjustments and a particularly strong performance in North America. In probiotics, the area posted double-digit growth with strong demand coming from EAME regions.
Focus on the Future
Following the performance, Symrise has confirmed its target for the current fiscal year and is expected to exceed the anticipated worldwide market growth rate for 2019. It’s updated long-term targets is to increase sales to around € 5.5 to 6.0 billion by the end of 2025, which will be achieved through annual organic growth of 5-7% and additional targeted acquisitions. In January 2019, Symrise announced the planned acquisition of U.S. meat and egg-based protein specialist ADF/IFD, which is expected to close in the second half of 2019.
