Strong Latin American demand boosts Symrise core profit

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.

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