By
Reuters
Published
May 6, 2014
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Strong Latin American demand boosts Symrise core profit

By
Reuters
Published
May 6, 2014

Frankfurt, Germany - German fragrance and flavours maker Symrise said quarterly core earnings rose 9 percent, buoyed by high capacity utilisation and strong growth in emerging markets, particularly in Latin America.

Source: Symrise


Symrise, which makes almost half of its sales in emerging markets, has benefited from strong demand for flavours for snacks and ready-to-eat dishes and fragrances for cosmetics and detergents in Latin America and Asia, where more and more consumers can afford these products.

First-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) reached 101 million euros ($140 million), compared with the average forecast of 96.6 million euros in a Reuters poll of five analysts.

Sales rose 2.6 percent to 470 million euros, in line with analyst estimates. Excluding the impact of currencies, sales were up 8 percent.

Symrise, which competes with Givaudan, unlisted Firmentech and IFF, confirmed its guidance for sales to grow faster than the global fragrances and flavours market, which Symrise expects to expand by 2-3 percent this year.

It also expects to achieve an EBITDA margin of more than 20 percent in 2014, a slightly more optimistic guidance than in March when it forecast a margin of around 20 percent.

Symrise also hopes to boost growth through acquisitions and last month agreed to buy France's Diana Group for 1.3 billion euros ($1.8 billion), a deal which will transform it into No. 3 player in the scents and flavours market.

The purchase will also help it towards a goal of boosting annual sales by around 1 billion euros by 2020.

$1 = 0.7205 Euros

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