SWITZERLAND – Flavours and fragrances major Givaudan has posted its full year sales of US$5.47billion showing strong financial performance, up 4.9% from last year’s results.
According to the company, the net income rose up by 11. 7% year-on-year basis, which amounted to US$771.4million and the EBITDA was of US$1167million.
Givaudan completed the year with good business momentum and with the project pipeline and win rates being sustained at high levels.
The good growth was achieved across all product segments and geographies, with recent acquisitions all contributing positively.
The company continues to implement price increases in collaboration with its customers to fully compensate for the increases in input costs, with gross margin down to 44.5% compared to 45.6% in 2016.
It says that despite continued productivity gains and cost discipline, the decline in the gross margin was mainly due to the dilution arising from the pricing actions to fully compensate for increased input costs.
The net income increased to US$771.54 million in 2017 from US$690 million in 2016, an increase of 11.7%.
This resulted in a net profit margin of 14.2%, versus 13.8% in 2016.
Givaudan also delivered an operating cash flow of US$922.63 million in 2017, compared to US$862.62 million in 2016.
Givaudan’s financial position remained solid at the end of the year, where the net debt at December 2017 was US$1150.88million, compared to US$997 million at December 2016, with the increase driven by the Group’s acquisitions and investment programme.
The Company’s 2020 ambition is to create further value through profitable, responsible growth.
Capitalising on the success of the 2011-2015 strategy, Givaudan’s 2020 ambition is built on the three strategic pillars of growing with its customers, delivering with excellence, and partnering for shared success.
The accompany aims to outpace the market with 4-5% sales growth and a free cash flow of 12-17% of sales, both measured as an average over the five-year period of the strategy cycle.
