dsm-firmenich reports full year 2024 results
dsm-firmenich reports full year 2024 results |
[13-February-2025] |
KAISERAUGST, Switzerland and MAASTRICHT, Netherlands, Feb. 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Management Report 2024 highlights
Dimitri de Vreeze, CEO, commented: "I am proud that we have delivered on our commitments in 2024 and have firmly established ourselves as a leading innovation-focused consumer company in nutrition, health & beauty. We redefined our strategic course with the announcement of the separation of Animal Nutrition & Health and the tuning of our portfolio which is well-progressed with the sale of marine lipids, yeast extracts, our minority stake in Robertet, and our stake in the Feed Enzymes Alliance with Novonesis. At the same time, we delivered strongly improved financial results in all our businesses, benefitting from better business conditions, and supported by a €200 million Adjusted EBITDA contribution from the merger synergies and the vitamin transformation program. We were also successful in substantially improving our cash flow ahead of our mid-term target. These achievements, together with the ongoing good momentum in our end markets, lead us to a positive full year outlook for 2025, which includes around €200 million Adjusted EBITDA from further cost and revenue synergies, and the vitamin transformation program. With the confidence we have in our earnings growth potential and the strong balance sheet, we have decided to initiate a €1 billion share buyback program. Moving forward, we will continue to execute our strategic plan, including exiting Animal Nutrition & Health and fully focusing on growing our innovation-driven core activities. Hence, we are fully on-track to meet our mid-term ambitions." 2025 Plan
Outlook 2025 For the group, we estimate a full year Adjusted EBITDA of at least €2.4 billion, which includes at least €100 million contribution from the temporary vitamin price effect from a supply disruption in the vitamin market. Strategy At its capital markets day in Paris on June 3, 2024, dsm-firmenich defined its strategy to better leverage its unique portfolio and capabilities to further strengthen its position as a global leader in nutrition, health, and beauty, and maximising the synergy potential of the merger. The company is focusing on its consumer activities after having announced plans to separate the Animal Nutrition & Health business from the Group and after tuning the portfolio by deprioritizing certain activities, that contribute more than €600 million in annual sales. In 2024, the company sold two of these activities, representing about €300 million in annual sales, the yeast extract business to Lesaffre and the marine lipids activities to KD Pharma Group. In addition, the company sold its stake in Robertet for almost €400 million. With these strategic actions, the company wants to accelerate its innovation-led growth by prioritizing the high-growth and high-margin segments of Perfumery & Beauty (P&B), Taste, Texture & Health (TTH) and Health, Nutrition & Care (HNC), with the following mid-term financial targets for dsm-firmenich in its new scope:
Delivering synergies through integration dsm-firmenich is on track to achieve its target synergies contributing approximately €350 million to Adjusted EBITDA. Around half of this is expected to come from cost efficiencies. The other half of the synergies are expected from incremental revenues of €500 million driven by complementary capabilities and realized in all three business units of the Group's new scope: 60% in TTH, 25% in HNC and 15% in P&B. Since the merger, the company has realized over €120 million contribution to Adjusted EBITDA from synergies. In 2025, the company expects to realize a further contribution of around €100 million to Adjusted EBITDA. Vitamin transformation program Mid-2023, the company launched a program to reduce costs and restore profitability in its vitamin activities, expected to generate an estimated contribution to Adjusted EBITDA of around €200 million. These savings are incremental to the €350 million Adjusted EBITDA synergies target. In 2024, the vitamin transformation program contributed around €100 million to Adjusted EBITDA. In 2025, the company expects to realize the remaining contribution of around €100 million to Adjusted EBITDA. Separation of Animal Nutrition & Health from the Group In February 2024, dsm-firmenich announced its intention to separate the Animal Nutrition & Health business from the company having concluded a different ownership structure would best realize its full potential. Furthermore, through this process, the company would reduce its exposure to vitamins earnings volatility and its capital intensity, in-line with its long-term strategy. On February 11, 2025, dsm-firmenich announced the sale of its stake in the Feed Enzymes Alliance to its equal partner, Novonesis for €1.5 billion. With the scope of the separation of the Animal Nutrition & Health business now defined, next week dsm-firmenich will begin the process of seeking transaction options to exit Animal Nutrition & Health, which is expected in the course of 2025. Stable dividend At the Annual General Meeting on May 6, 2025, the Board of Directors of dsm-firmenich will propose a cash dividend of €2.50 per share for the financial year 2024. Of this total dividend, €1.44 to be paid out of capital contribution reserves without deduction of any Swiss withholding tax. The remaining €1.06 to be paid out of available earnings and therefore subject to 35% Swiss withholding tax. New share buyback program dsm-firmenich intends to repurchase ordinary shares with an aggregate market value of €1 billion and reduce its issued capital. This program is planned to start in Q2 2025 for an initial €500 million and will be increased to €1 billion upon the completion of the sale of dsm-firmenich's stake in the Feed Enzymes Alliance. This program is targeted to be completed by Q2 2026. The company remains committed to its strong investment grade credit ratings.
FY 2024
Business conditions markedly improved during the year. Perfumery & Beauty and Taste, Texture & Health saw very strong demand throughout the year. Health, Nutrition & Care saw business momentum improving in the second half of the year with demand for Dietary Supplements and Early Life Nutrition picking up. Animal Nutrition & Health delivered a strong performance owing to continued strong demand for Performance Solutions throughout the year, together with the normalization of vitamin profitability during the second half of the year. In addition, in Q4 the business benefited from the additional temporary vitamin price effect related to a supply disruption in the vitamin market. Adjusted EBITDA was up 19% owing to the good organic sales growth, and the contributions from the synergies, the vitamin transformation program and the temporary vitamin price effect in Q4. The Adjusted EBITDA includes a negative foreign exchange effect estimated at €50 million. In 2024, synergies contributed around €105 million to Adjusted EBITDA, predominantly cost-led. The revenues from the sales synergies accounted for about €50 million in 2024. In 2025, the company expects an additional €100 million Adjusted EBITDA contribution from cost and sales synergies. Adjusted gross operating free cash flow amounted to €1,552 million, up 55% from the prior period, driven by Adjusted EBITDA growth and operating working capital discipline. Q4 2024
Both Perfumery & Beauty and Taste, Texture & Health delivered a good result in Q4 which is seasonally a low quarter in the year. Health, Nutrition & Care had a good performance, with strong results in i-Health and Biomedical, and improving demand for Dietary Supplements and Early Life Nutrition. Animal Nutrition & Health saw continued strength in Performance Solutions and ongoing improvement in the overall business conditions with improving vitamin profitability. In addition, it benefited from a temporary vitamin price effect. Adjusted EBITDA was up 37% owing to a very good organic sales growth, the year-on-year contribution of about €45 million from the vitamin transformation program and synergies and about €85 million from the temporary vitamin price effect in Animal Nutrition & Health, partially offset by a negative foreign exchange effect estimated at €10 million. The resulting Adjusted EBITDA margin was 18.5%. Business Unit Review Perfumery & Beauty Perfumery & Beauty (P&B) is a leading creation and innovation partner for the most iconic global and local brands in consumer goods, lifestyle, and luxury beauty. The business unit is home to some of the best talent in the industry, boasts an unmatched palette of ingredients including captives, and is supported by a vertically integrated supply chain. Powered by our science-based innovations in Fragrance and Beauty & Care, we make our customers' products more desirable, essential, and sustainable, driving consumers' preference.
FY 2024 Perfumery & Beauty delivered a very strong performance with 9% volume growth, driven by both global and regional accounts. The 2% negative pricing reflected lower input costs. Perfumery had an excellent year with strong organic sales growth in both Fine Fragrances and Consumer Fragrances. These activities benefitted from the continued good demand for differentiated and exclusive fragrance creations and from innovation delivering product superiority. Ingredients' performance was very strong. Beauty & Care delivered a good first half which was followed by a softer half especially due to weak demand for suncare. The strong results were supported by innovation in Perfumery, enabling the creation of superior consumer experiences and securing strong win rates, as well as new products launches in Ingredients and Beauty & Care.
Adjusted EBITDA was up 13% from the prior year, driven by strong innovation-driven volume growth, with the contribution synergies, resulting in a margin of 22.3%. Q4 2024 Perfumery & Beauty delivered a good performance with 5% volume growth. Perfumery delivered a strong volume growth on strong demand for Fine Fragrances and good demand for Consumer Fragrances. Beauty & Care had a soft quarter especially owing to low demand for suncare. Ingredients had a strong quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was up 5% from the prior year, primarily driven by good organic sales growth. The Adjusted EBITDA margin reflects the usual seasonality in the fourth quarter. Taste, Texture & Health Taste, Texture & Health (TTH) brings progress to life by tackling some of society's biggest challenges: providing nutritious, healthy and sustainable food and beverage solutions, accelerating the diet transformation with appealing taste and texture, and nourishing a growing global population whilst minimizing food loss and waste. TTH consists of Taste, which includes flavors, natural extracts, sugar reduction solutions, and Ingredients Solutions, which includes food enzymes, hydrocolloids, cultures, natural colorants, nutritional ingredients, and plant-based proteins.
FY 2024 Taste, Texture & Health delivered a very strong performance with 9% volume growth, with both Taste and Ingredients Solutions contributing equally. The strong demand was driven predominantly by regional and local accounts, which was also partly bolstered by a catch-up effect after destocking last year. Sales synergies saw a good momentum, through cross-selling, concept selling and capability sharing, resulting in a steadily growing pipeline in line with our mid-term ambitions. Throughout the year, the business created new concepts which were successfully launched across multiple platforms driven by strong interest from customers. Examples included:
The yeast extracts business was sold to Lesaffre in October 2024. Taste, Texture & Health will continue to supply yeast extracts to Lesaffre under a co-manufacturing agreement until the end of 2025. Adjusted EBITDA was up 11%, driven by strong volume growth and the contribution from the synergies, resulting in an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 19%. Q4 2024 Business momentum remained strong throughout the quarter. The reported 4% volume growth followed an exceptionally strong third quarter with 13% volume growth. Adjusted EBITDA was up 8% on higher volumes, the contribution from the synergies and reflecting the deconsolidation of the yeast extracts business. The Adjusted EBITDA margin was 18.2% Health, Nutrition & Care Health, Nutrition & Care (HNC) enables people to improve their health by supplementing their diet with critical nutrients and driving medical innovation forward, so helping to optimize immunity, speed up recovery and enhancing quality of life.
FY 2024 Health, Nutrition & Care delivered 2% volume growth during the year. Medical Nutrition, i-Health, and Biomedical performed well throughout the period. Dietary Supplements and Early Life Nutrition improved during the second half of the year, driving 5% volume growth in the period for the business unit, owing to good demand for algal omega-3 oils and Early Life Nutrition premix and HMOs. Health, Nutrition & Care launched several new specialized, preventative health solutions:
The reported Adjusted EBITDA was down 5% from the previous year. Corrected for the negative foreign exchange effect and the divestment of the marine lipids activities (-10%), the underlying Adjusted EBITDA growth was up 5%. Q4 2024 Health, Nutrition & Care had a good quarter with 5% volume growth. I-Health and Biomedical performed well, while the business saw further improvement in demand for Dietary Supplements, especially in algal lipid solutions, and Early Life Nutrition, with the latter benefitting from higher HMOs and premix sales. Adjusted EBITDA was up 9% from the previous year period. Corrected for the negative foreign exchange effect and the divestment of the marine lipids activities (-15%), the underlying Adjusted EBITDA growth was up 24%. The Adjusted EBITDA margin was up to 18.1%. Animal Nutrition & Health Animal Nutrition & Health (ANH) helps delivering healthy animal proteins efficiently and sustainably, whilst harnessing the power of data to make animal farming practices more sustainable, productive, and transparent.
FY 2024 Animal Nutrition & Health delivered a strongly improved performance versus the previous year with 5% organic sales growth, with 3% volume growth and prices up 2%. Performance Solutions delivered strong results throughout the year, especially in mycotoxin risk management products that are now offered together with precision service complementary offerings through the premix network. Bovaer® and Veramaris® had an excellent year. In the second half of the year, demand for Essential Products increased as farmer economics improved and vitamin profitability started to normalize, highlighting the quality of the underlying business. In addition, in Q4 the business benefited from the additional temporary vitamin price effect from vitamins A and E related to a supply disruption in the vitamin market. In 2024, Animal Nutrition & Health launched several innovations and expanded its Performance Solutions and Precision Services reach across species and geographies:
Adjusted EBITDA was up significantly from the previous year, owing to good organic sales growth, the contributions from the vitamin transformation program and the temporary vitamin price effect in Q4. Q4 2024 Animal Nutrition & Health delivered a strongly improved performance, led by prices up 15%, owing to a further normalization of the vitamin prices and the temporary vitamin price effect. Adjusted EBITDA was up significantly from the previous year period, owing to good organic sales growth, the contribution from the vitamin transformation program, and a €85 million benefit from the temporary vitamin price effect. The Adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 18.9%.
Cash Flow and Working Capital
The adjusted gross operating free cash flow was up €553 million versus prior year, representing a cash conversion of 12% on Sales. OWC improved to 27.7% of Sales from 30.3% in prior year, reflecting discipline in managing operational efficiency and continued commitment to progress on our cash ambition. Alternative Performance Measures (APMs) The main APM adjustments in 2024 were:
A reconciliation between the APMs and the most directly reconcilable IFRS metric can be found on page 18 of this press release. Sustainability The world is in flux on many fronts with an accelerated pace, and in this context dsm-firmenich stays the course in its commitment to bring progress to life. Sustainability permeates everything dsm-firmenich does, driving progress for both People and Planet. In 2024, the company made major strides in its sustainability journey. dsm-firmenich's mid-term and long-term targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions were validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the leading authority on certifying corporate climate goals. By focusing on climate mitigation activities in its own operations and value chain, dsm-firmenich aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2045. Looking ahead, dsm-firmenich remains dedicated to leveraging science and innovation to create solutions that meet the needs of people and the planet — because the world needs it now more than ever. People dsm-firmenich made progress on improving the health, well-being, and livelihoods of employees and people around the world.
The safety and health of employees and the communities the company serves are top priorities for dsm-firmenich. In 2024, the company achieved a significant reduction in safety incidents, thanks to the increased ownership of safety by all employees. A first wave of Life Saving Rules and new Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) requirements was rolled out during the year. In 2024, the company launched its human rights policy, published its first human rights report and conducted an analysis on human rights gaps in its own operations. An action plan to address the gaps is currently in process. The results from Employee Engagement and Inclusion surveys remained strong, with 85% of employees stating they feel their work is meaningful to them, and an overall engagement score of 79%. dsm-firmenich continued to invest in upskilling employees with a newly launched learning platform as well as dedicated mentoring programs. dsm-firmenich continues to promote nutrition for those most in need, reaching 620 million beneficiaries with high-quality nutritional intervention solutions. In 2024, dsm-firmenich renewed its partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), reaching 38 million people with nutritious food products enhanced by the partnership, and a further 20.5 million people through WFP country programs, including fortified rice initiatives. Planet dsm-firmenich views climate and nature as deeply interconnected, requiring a comprehensive and integrated approach. The company is committed to developing solutions that address both climate change and the preservation and restoration of natural ecosystems simultaneously.
In Climate, dsm-firmenich developed its first Climate Transition Action Plan (CTAP) in 2024 to create a clear roadmap towards its near-term and long-term net-zero targets. In 2024 the company achieved significant results:
The company is on track to achieve 100% of annual sourcing of purchased renewable electricity in 2025 and maintain that level through 2030. To reduce Scope 3 emissions, the company is actively engaging with suppliers through its Responsible Sourcing Framework and the 'Joining Forces for NetZero' program to drive collaborative decarbonization efforts. In Nature, dsm-firmenich focuses on water stewardship, biodiversity management, and resource efficiency. The company also supports a wide range of biodiversity programs in the communities where it operates, including mangrove restoration in Indonesia, biodiversity projects in India, and marshland restoration in New Jersey. Governance As a combined, merged company, dsm-firmenich has made substantial strides in elevating its governance to the highest level. In 2024, the company issued numerous policies and position papers that enhanced its good governance practices. These documents covered critical areas such as Protecting Forests and Land-based Natural Ecosystems, Safeguarding Biodiversity, and Combating Modern Slavery, among others. dsm-firmenich launched a series of mandatory training programs designed to ensure company-wide adoption and adherence to the company's Code of Business Ethics, equipping all employees to uphold these standards. Definitions This press release includes information that is presented in accordance with IFRS as issued by the International Accounting Standard Board and alternative performance measures (APMs). Please refer to the section below for the definitions as applied. The comparatives in the management report to this press release contain information that is presented on a pro forma basis ('pro forma'), which includes the Firmenich results as if the merger had occurred on January 1, 2022. The pro forma figures represent the results from continuing operations – please also refer to the Integrated Annual Report 2023. Alternative Performance Measures (APMs) In monitoring the financial performance of dsm-firmenich, management uses certain Alternative performance measures (APMs) not defined by IFRS. These APMs should not be viewed in isolation as alternatives to the equivalent IFRS measures and should be used as supplementary information in conjunction with the most directly comparable IFRS measures. APMs do not have standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. To arrive at the Alternative Performance Measures (APMs) Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBIT, and Adjusted net profit, adjustments are made for material items of income and expense arising from circumstances such as acquisitions and divestments, restructuring, impairments and other events (i.e., APM adjustments). Other APM adjusting events include site closure costs, environmental cleaning, litigation settlements or other non-operational (contractual) arrangements. Other than items related to acquisition and integration costs incurred in the first year from the acquisition date (including non-recurring inventory value adjustments) as well as adjustments due to previously recognized APM adjusting events, the threshold is €10 million. The APMs used throughout this press release are: Organic sales growth (OSG) Organic sales growth is the sales growth excluding the impact of acquisitions, divestments, and currency impacts. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) EBITDA is defined as IFRS metric operating profit plus depreciation, amortization, and impairments. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (Adj. EBITDA) Adjusted EBITDA is the EBITDA adjusted for material items of profit or loss, as defined under 'APM adjustments'. EBITDA margin EBITDA margin is EBITDA expressed as a percentage of net sales. Adjusted EBITDA margin (Adj. EBITDA margin) Adjusted EBITDA margin is adjusted EBITDA expressed as a percentage of net sales. Adjusted operating profit (Adj. EBIT) Adjusted operating profit (Adj. EBIT) is the IFRS metric operating profit adjusted for material items of profit or loss, as defined under 'APM adjustments'. Core adjusted EBIT (Core adj. EBIT) Core adjusted EBIT is calculated as the IFRS metric operating profit adjusted for material items of profit or loss, as defined under 'APM adjustments', and adjusted for the impact of the Firmenich purchase price allocation (PPA). Adjusted net profit (Adj. net profit) Adjusted net profit is the IFRS metric net profit adjusted for material items of profit or loss, as defined under 'APM adjustments'. Core adjusted net profit (Core adj. net profit) Core adjusted net profit is the IFRS metric net profit (from continuing operations) adjusted for material items of profit or loss, as defined under 'APM adjustments', and adjusted for the impact of the Firmenich purchase price allocation (PPA). Adjusted gross operating free cash flow (AGOFCF) Adjusted gross operating free cash flow (AGOFCF) is defined as the IFRS metric operating profit plus depreciation, amortization, and impairments, adjusted for material items of profit or loss, as defined under 'APM adjustments', adjusted for intrinsic changes in the working capital, minus capital expenditures. This metric is based on continuing operations. Sales to cash conversion % Sales to cash conversion % is the adjusted gross operating free cash flow (AGOFCF) as a percentage of net sales. Adjusted earnings per share (Adj. EPS) Adjusted earnings per share (Adjusted EPS) is calculated as the net profit available to holders of ordinary shares adjusted for material items of profit or loss, as defined under 'APM adjustments', divided by the average number of ordinary shares outstanding. Core adjusted earnings per share (Core adj. EPS) Core adjusted earnings per share (Core adjusted EPS) is calculated as the net profit (from continuing operations) available to holders of ordinary shares adjusted for material items of profit or loss, as defined under 'APM adjustments', and adjusted for the impact of the Firmenich purchase price allocation (PPA), divided by the average number of ordinary shares outstanding. Capital employed Capital employed is the total of the carrying amount of intangible assets and property, plant and equipment, inventories, trade receivables and other receivables, less trade payables, other current liabilities, investment grants and customer funding. Average capital employed is calculated as the average of the capital employed at the end of the preceding five quarters, including the current quarter. Core capital employed Core capital employed is defined as capital employed, adjusted for the impact of the Firmenich purchase price allocation (PPA). Average core capital employed is calculated as the average of the core capital employed at the end of the preceding five quarters, including the current quarter. Return on capital employed (ROCE) Return on capital employed (ROCE) is the adjusted operating profit (from continuing operations) as a percentage of average capital employed. Core adjusted return on capital employed (Core adj. ROCE) Core adjusted return on capital employed (Core adj. ROCE) is core adjusted EBIT as a percentage of average core capital employed. Operating working capital (OWC) The total of inventories and trade receivables, less trade payables. Operating working capital (OWC) as % of sales Operating working capital as % of sales is the operating working capital as a percentage of annualized fourth-quarter net sales. Working capital (WC) The total of inventories and current receivables, less current payables. Working capital (WC) as % of sales Working capital as % of sales is the working capital as a percentage of annualized fourth-quarter net sales. Capital expenditures (CAPEX) Capital expenditures include all investments in intangible assets and property, plant and equipment. Net debt Net debt is the total of current and non-current borrowings less cash and cash equivalents, current investments and the net position of derivatives. Condensed consolidated financial statements 2024
The main APM adjustments in 2024 were:
Notes to the Condensed consolidated financial statements The financial statements and other reported data in this press release have not been audited. Financial calendar March 25, 2025 – ESG expert investor event Additional information Today dsm-firmenich will hold a webcast for investors and analysts at 9:00 am CET. Details on how to access this call can be found on www.dsm-firmenich.com. For more information Media relations Investor relations About dsm-firmenich As innovators in nutrition, health, and beauty, dsm-firmenich reinvents, manufactures, and combines vital nutrients, flavors, and fragrances for the world's growing population to thrive. With our comprehensive range of solutions, with natural and renewable ingredients and renowned science and technology capabilities, we work to create what is essential for life, desirable for consumers, and more sustainable for the planet. dsm-firmenich is a Swiss-Dutch company, listed on the Euronext Amsterdam, with operations in almost 60 countries and revenues of more than €12 billion. With a diverse, worldwide team of nearly 30,000 employees, we bring progress to life™ every day, everywhere, for billions of people. Forward-looking statements
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Company Codes: EuronextAmsterdam:DSFIR, ISIN:CH121647879 |