Novozymes Meets 2013 Targets, Food Sales Boosted by Enzymes for Health

21 Jan 2014 --- Novozymes, the world’s largest producer of industrial enzymes, has announced its 2013 financial results. Organic sales growth was 7% (5% DKK, 8% LCY), EBIT grew by 6% and net profit by 9%, and the EBIT margin increased by 0.3 percentage point to 24.7% compared with 2012.

2014 is expected to show a continuation of trends seen in 2013. As a result, the outlook for 2014 is positive with good underlying sales and EBIT growth. The outlook includes the expected financial impact from The BioAg Alliance with Monsanto. The BioAg Alliance does not affect the outlook for organic sales growth, but is expected to have a negative impact on sales growth in LCY and DKK of up to one percentage point. The BioAg Alliance is expected to have a positive impact on the EBIT margin of between a half and a full percentage point. All in all, including The BioAg Alliance, Novozymes expects organic and LCY sales growth of 6-9%, sales growth in DKK of 4-7%, EBIT growth of 6-9% and an EBIT margin of 25-26%.

“Today we close the books on an eventful 2013 for Novozymes”, says Novozymes CEO Peder Holk Nielsen. “We delivered a good finish to the year and ended at the high end of our guided ranges for sales growth and above that for earnings. We also signed a number of landmark agreements within Biomass Conversion and BioAgriculture that will enable Novozymes to change the world together with its customers. The outlook for 2014 is positive. We expect that our diversified growth platform will enable us to deliver good sales and EBIT growth. We also expect that The BioAg Alliance will receive the final green light from regulators soon, so we can hit the ground running on developing novel, game-changing BioAg solutions for farmers worldwide.”

Sales to the Food & Beverages industries were flat in DKK and increased by 3% in LCY compared with 2012. Sales for the production of healthy foods were the most significant growth contributor. Sales to the baking industry ended the year on par with 2012. Sales in the important fresh keeping area were slightly lower than last year, but sales growth in other baking application areas counterbalanced this impact. Sales to the starch industry also contributed moderately to growth due to positive development s in a number of markets making up for lower sales in China due to lower production of corn syrups and other corn-derived products.