Givaudan: results disappoint, shares fall
(CercleFinance.com) - Swiss flavours and fragrances maker Givaudan missed forecasts with a 5.
8% rise in sales on a like-for-like basis in 2019, which hit its share on Friday.
Givaudan - which makes ingredients for beverages, snacks, dairy and perfumes - said full-year sales were 6.2 billion Swiss francs, up 12.2% in Swiss francs when compared to 2018.
Fragrance division sales were up 7.3% on a like-for-like basis, while the flavour division posted an increase in sales of 4.5%, it added.
EBITDA increased by 11.4% to over 1.27 billion Swiss francs in 2019, with net income of 702 million Swiss francs compared to 663 million in 2018.
For 2020, the Geneva-based group said it aims to outperform the market with 4%-5% sales growth and free cash flow of 12%-17% of sales.
Givaudan's shares - which rose by over 23% last year - underperformed the European chemicals sector on Friday, down 1.7%, while the STOXX Europe 600 Chemicals index was up 1.2%.
Analysts at UBS attributed the negative market reaction to a "soft year-end quarter for organics and a miss on earnings," while noting that free cash flow performance was "encouraging"
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