Naturex Head Categorizes Q1 Revenues as “Steady”
15 May 2017 --- Global leader in speciality plant-based natural ingredients, Naturex has posted “steady” Q1 results with first quarter revenue amounting to €104.4 million (US$114.2 million), in line with the same period in 2016.
This includes a positive currency effect and recurring operational EBITDA on that basis came to €15.8 million (US$17.2 million), representing a margin of 15.1%, according to Naturex.
Naturex’s analysis of revenue by business market and geographical region includes My Natural Food at €53.9million (US$59 million) and My Natural Selfcare at €36.3 million (US$39.7 million), as well as other activities €14.2 million (US$15.5 million).
Speaking with FoodIngredientsFirst during VitaFoods Europe last week, CEO and director of Naturex, Olivier Rigaud, explained how the trend towards organic raw material is continuing to present big opportunities for the company.
“The move to organic raw material is very, very heavy right now. Next to that, we also have a lot of requests about traceability and sustainability on our ingredients. These are two really big trends that we see today on the market.”
“Through our Pathfinder program, we have established with all our suppliers, a charter to make sure we have traceability to the field and we are able to offer trace packs and ID packs to the customers on most of our products today.”
Watch the full interview with Olivier here to find out more about Naturex launches, investments and more.
Headquartered in Avignon, France, Naturex has experienced steadily-increasing growth throughout the last 25 years with Group revenue of €404.4 million (US$442.7 million) in 2016.
Talking directly about 2017 first quarter results, Rigaud comments: “As announced when the 2016 annual results were published, 2017 first quarter revenue remained steady in relation to last year's same period.”
“In accordance with our implementation plan, we concentrated on optimizing our product mix by shifting its focus to our four strategic categories, while initiating the final phase in reducing the number of SKUs and accelerating the adoption of simplification measures,” he says.
“Geographically, our regional organization enabled us to target and adapt our approach to the diverse characteristics and volatility of our markets. In this way, we continued to benefit from opportunities provided by dynamic emerging countries whereas our strong position in North America confirmed our capacity for getting back on track for growth, particularly in the nutraceutical sector.”
“In Europe, comparison base effects and the accelerating rationalization in the number of SKUs masked the positive effects from certain product categories. Finally, our team’s ongoing efforts to reduce operating expenses and increase operating efficiencies have bolstered our current operating margin. As we begin 2017 with confidence, our priorities in the first half are clearly focused on accelerating the simplification measures and in the second half on top line growth and operating profitability.”
by Gaynor Selby and Robin Wyers
