WILD Confident on Return to Beverage Innovation, Looks to Boost Presence in “Emerging Markets”

The group will close the first half of 2011 with record sales. For FY 2011 WILD expects a turnover of its global ingredients business of more than 1 billion U.S. dollars.

6/16/2011 --- On the eve of its 80th anniversary, WILD is in great shape. Founded in 1931 as a family business, WILD is now a global player and ready for the capital market. Today, the company is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of natural ingredients for the food and beverage industries. A major force behind the developments of the past 37 years has been Dr. Hans-Peter Wild (pictured), who celebrated his 70th birthday yesterday (June 16, 2011).

“My goal has always been, and still is, to safeguard the long-term continuance of my parents’ family business, which I have expanded into an internationally successful corporation,” explains Dr. Hans-Peter Wild. Thanks to his commitment, WILD is today a world leader in the production of natural ingredients for the food and beverage industry, counting almost all the major food companies as its customers.

In early 2010 Wild entered into a strategic partnership with international investor Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR), who holds a 35% share of global flavors business. A mere six months later, on 29 July 2010, Dr. Hans-Peter Wild established a global structure for all the companies within the WILD group. The flavor divisions were grouped under a new Swiss holding WILD Flavors GmbH Zug (Switzerland), which included Rudolf Wild GmbH & Co. KG, Eppelheim (Germany), WILD Affiliated Holdings Inc., Erlanger (Kentucky/USA) and other Swiss assets owned by Dr. Hans-Peter Wild.

“This company will be floated on the stock exchange within the next two or three years. We expect to benefit from the extensive expertise of KKR, one of the world’s largest broker-dealers, who have assisted over 60 firms into the capital market,” Wild explains.

“The reorganization will make the company independent of myself and provide the basis for the continuing successful development of WILD,” Dr. Wild continues. “As Chairman of the WILD Flavors GmbH Advisory Board, I will naturally continue to determine the course taken. From an organizational, financial and operative point of view, we are now well-positioned for a successful stock exchange career these next years.”

First consolidated annual financial statements for the new group have been prepared as of December 31, 2010, showing an equity ratio of 64.6%. Group Leverage defined by the ratio of Net Debt to EBITDA stands at around factor 1. With these ratios WILD Flavors commands a prime position in the industry.

A further milestone has been the signing of a €250 million syndicated loan facility on April 20, 2011 proving WILD Flavors’ capital market readiness. The new group’s bank ratings positioned it as an “investment grade” opportunity. With 500 million Euros the finance transaction has been significantly oversubscribed which also resulted in lower interest cost. With the new facility financing cost has been reduced by more than 40%.

In addition the operational business is performing very well. The group will close the first half of 2011 with record sales. For FY 2011 WILD expects a turnover of its global ingredients business of more than 1 billion U.S. dollars. This puts the company in 5th place just behind Givaudan, Firmenich, IFF and Symrise with WILD having a clear focus on natural flavors and ingredients thereby delivering an unique USP. With its solid balance sheet, its strong operational business and the new financing WILD Flavors has created a solid base for further profitable growth.

Dr. Wild is convinced that staff and customers in the food and beverage industries will benefit from the new organization. “Our partners will benefit from our global activities, our expertise in flavors and our high quality awareness as regards food technology. Thanks to our internationally applied consumer trend research, we recognize how customer needs are changing at an early stage and can use the gained insights to develop promising new concepts for our customers. As a globally operating producer and supplier of ingredients we also have direct access to all the significant raw materials sources. That allows us to offer our customers the best products for the respective markets worldwide.”

Current business developments prove that WILD’s innovation strategy is paying off. “These past two years have seen a great deal of convincing being done by our Sales division,” Managing Director Heinrich Sievers reports. “Pressure from the food trade led to our customers wanting to limit the product ranges, and cost reductions and streamlining were often at the focus of activities. Fortunately, attitudes are now changing and our innovations are back in demand. Following an already excellent 3 year 2010 we have just recorded the best half-year in company history – perfectly in time for Dr. Wild’s 70th birthday and the company’s anniversary in 2011.”

Sievers finds it all the more pleasing that the positive trend is not limited to Germany but is also extending into several other European countries. Independent of political situations and the weather – recognized factors that influence beverage consumption – excellent results have been achieved in Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Turkey, and also the Iberian Peninsula. Even the Middle East boasted tremendous performance as a result of the innovative product developments.

On the eve of the company’s 80th anniversary, Dr. Hans-Peter Wild views the future with confidence. “The company is in an excellent position for further growth. We operate within a healthy industry, the firm has a solid basis and excellent staff, and really does create added value for the customer.”

A challenge for WILD in the next few years will be the safeguarding and continuing expansion of business beyond the borders of Europe and in the USA. To ensure sustainable success, the company is looking to increase its presence in the so-called emerging markets.

“WILD traditionally has an excellent basis in Europe and the USA. We will now be investing in business developments in the emerging economies in Asia, South America, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East,” Cosimo Trimigliozzi, COO of WILD Flavors International GmbH, explains the firm’s expansion strategy.

Trimigliozzi is of the opinion that Brazil, Russia, India and China represent the major future markets for the food and beverage industries. Around 40 percent of the world’s population live in the so-called BRIC nations, and annual growth of economic performance exceeds that of the European Union several times over. Population increases and the swift development of a broad middle class are additional highly interesting factors for food manufacturers like WILD.

“WILD has been enjoying considerable success in Russia for years now. Clearly the strong links to our European organization have stood us in good stead here,” Trimigliozzi continues. WILD’s activities in China began in 1997. A major milestone there was the completion of state-of-the-art, German-standard production facilities in 2003. WILD currently employs over 120 staff in China. “We are now working on expanding our Chinese operations with targeted acquisitions,” Trimigliozzi comments the next steps.

Brazil and India will also benefit from WILD investments. The goal is to increase market presence in these countries through acquisitions or cooperations in product development and sales. Two such projects are already in the final stages and scheduled to be completed within the next few weeks.

Dr. Hans-Peter Wild is also enthusiastic about the firm’s prospects in the BRIC nations: “The forecasts for the upcoming decades are awesome. Today, more people who can afford industrially-made foods live in the BRIC nations than in the whole of the USA and Europe combined. Offering these consumers high-quality products which also appeal to their tastes and lifestyles will be the major challenge of the years that lie ahead. I have no doubt that we are on course for success here and will manage to double our global business in just a few years,” Dr. Wild comments.