Nutrition Drives DSM Life Sciences Results

Coinciding with the results announcement was the news that DSM was marking its transformation with a new company brand: Bright Science. Brighter Living. The new brand is claimed to be symbolic of the transition to the ‘new’ DSM.

2/23/2011 --- DSM has reported strong 2010 results and proposed a dividend increase to € 1.35. Q4 operating profit from continuing operations was up 17% to € 170 million, with full-year operating profit from continuing operations up 74% to € 752 million. 2011 is expected to be another strong year for DSM towards achieving the 2013 targets.

Commenting on the results, Feike Sijbesma, CEO/Chairman of the DSM Managing Board, said: “I am proud to report such strong financial results for 2010, which reflect our focus on innovation and our customers across the globe as well as cost and cash management supported by an improving economic climate. Within the Life Sciences businesses, our Nutrition business continued to record very good results, whilst Pharma needs improvement. The Materials Sciences businesses delivered a significant improvement during the year with a record result for Polymer Intermediates.

“The year 2010 was the last in a period of transformation for DSM to become a focused Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company. We successfully completed our Vision 2010 strategy, including divesting the remaining non-core assets within the promised timescale. Subsequently, through a series of important transactions we have started to build additional strong growth platforms for the next phase of our strategy ‘DSM in motion: driving focused growth’ as evidenced by the announced acquisition of Martek and the announced joint venture with Sinochem for our anti-infectives business. We are confident that 2010 has laid the foundation for achieving our new strategic growth and profitability objectives and therefore we are proposing to raise our dividend from € 1.20 to € 1.35 instead of the € 1.30 announced in September 2010.”

Fourth quarter organic sales development for DSM’s Nutrition cluster was -1% as higher sales volumes were offset by lower prices. DSM’s Quali-C continues to command a solid premium despite increased price pressure in vitamin C. Operating profit was in line with Q4 2009 and Q3 2010 despite a negative impact of the strong Swiss franc. Performance of personal care and savory ingredients was particularly strong compared to 2009.

Full year performance was above 2009, in both sales and profitability. Organic sales growth was 2%, mainly driven by higher volumes. Operating profit of DSM Nutritional Products and DSM Food Specialties increased further, due to good market conditions, excellent manufacturing performance, good cost control and favorable currency exchange rates. The cluster remained focused on its value over volume strategy.

Coinciding with the results announcement was the news that DSM was marking its transformation with a new company brand: Bright Science. Brighter Living. The new brand is claimed to be symbolic of the transition to the ‘new’ DSM.

The new brand is a reflection of the overall positioning of the company. It stands for the DSM strategy, DSM culture and the way DSM wants its employees to work together. It represents the company’s sustainability value (working with a triple bottom line of People, Planet and Profit thereby creating value for all stakeholders) , the One DSM philosophy (based on the realization that DSM can only fulfill its strategic goals if it operates as one united team across the globe) and it fits with the DSM mission to create brighter lives for people today and for generations to come.

Feike Sijbesma, CEO/Chairman of the DSM Managing Board, said: “With the portfolio restructuring completed, with our new strategy that focuses on growth, with the culture change on the road, and with our One DSM philosophy, this is the time to mark the new DSM, internally and externally.”

The new DSM is summed up by the new tagline: Bright Science. Brighter Living. DSM uses its science and innovation in partnership with its customers to create products and solutions that make a positive difference to people lives.

Next to the new tagline the brand also comes with a new logo. The new logo conveys brightness. But it conveys a whole lot more besides: The mix and overlay of colors represents the diversity of DSM people and the unique combination of DSM global talents and technologies, working together to create innovative and sustainable solutions in a variety of businesses (nutrition, health and materials). The logo also conveys dynamic motion, a sense of movement because the company is constantly looking to evolve in an ever changing world and has great track record in doing so.