Givaudan AG (GVDBF.PK), a Swiss manufacturer of fragrance and flavor products, Tuesday said first-quarter sales totaled 1.088.9 billion Swiss francs, up 3.9 percent on a like-for-like basis, and 2.7 percent in francs compared to last year.
Fragrance Division sales grew 3.6 percent from last year to 517.1 million francs, driven by the good growth in Consumer Products, whereas sales in Fine Fragrances and Fragrances Ingredients were lower than in the first quarter of 2012.
Flavour Division for the quarter totaled 571.8 million francs, up 1.9 percent from the prior year. Sales increased in the developing markets of Africa, China, India, Indonesia and Eastern Europe owing to existing product growth and new wins. However, growth in North America and Western Europe was offset by declines in Australia, Japan and Korea.
Mid-term, the overall objective is to grow organically between 4.5 percent and 5.5 percent per annum, assuming a market growth of 2-3 percent, and to continue on the path of market share gains.
Givaudan still expects to outgrow the underlying market and continue to achieve its industry-leading EBITDA margin while improving annual free cash flow to between 14 percent and 16 percent of sales by 2015.
Givaudan also confirmed its intention to return above 60 percent of the company's free cash flow to shareholders while maintaining a medium-term leverage ratio target below 25 percent.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com