Naturex H1 gives ‘head-start’ on 2010 targets

27-Jul-2010 - Last updated on 28-Jul-2010 at 10:40 GMT

Naturex’s has indicated that the first six months of 2010 have brought strong revenue-growth as it set about integrating the ingredients division recently acquired from Natraceutical, but all its business arms contributed to the fine results.

The French plant-based ingredients specialist acquired the ingredients division of Natraceutical last year for €110m. The move which made it the world’s largest company in its field and brought a host of new ingredients to its portfolio including natural colouring agents, fruit and vegetable powders, pectins, functional ingredients, yeast and caffeine.

Full results for H1 are due to be published at the end of August but revenues in these six months were €112.8m, the company revealed today. While this is a 127 per cent increase on the revenues reported for the same period of 2009, it does include revenues from the Natraceutical division.

To enable direct comparison the company also stated proforma revenue for H1 2009 of €95.8m that includes Natraceutical earnings for that period. Thus, proforma growth (in constant currencies) was 15.4 per cent.

The company says this gives it a “clear head start” on its target for the full year of like-for-like growth of between 5 and 10 per cent, “notching up an impressive performance given the current economic backdrop”.

CEO Jacques Dikansky expressed his confidence that the strong market potential for specialty plant-based ingredients is here to stay. He said that the resources the company ploughs into research and development are crucial to its future success.

“Our ability to step up the development of products with a high value added is an invaluable asset that will continue to ensure our long-term growth,” he said.

The former Natraceutical division now falls under Naturex’s food & beverage division, which makes up 59 per cent of group sales overall. However its personal care division showed excellent growth, doubling revenues from €0.6m in H1 2009 to €1.2m.

The nutrition and health division saw 0.8 per cent growth to €38.3m.

Growth was also seen across all geographies. Post acquisition Europe and Africa now account for 54 per cent of the company’s activities, North and South America for 35.9 per cent, and Asia Pacific for 10.1 per cent.