Ingredients supplier Chr. Hansen has reported ‘strong growth’ in the third-quarter, driven by better-than-expected performance in cultures, enzymes and health and nutrition.
The Danish company posted revenue of €278 million – up 11.2% on the same quarter last year – with quarterly profit also higher at €58 million. Revenue for the first three quarters stands at €780 million – almost €90 million higher than the first three quarters of the year before.
In the last three months, Chr. Hansen’s food cultures and enzymes grew 10%, health and nutrition grew 14%, and natural colours grew 6%.
Third-quarter profit was €58 million, compared to €52 million in the third quarter of 2015/16.
According to CEO Cees de Jong, the results underline the fact that Chr. Hansen’s customers in the food industry are buying more cultures and probiotics, driven by increasing demand from consumers for functional dairy.
“We continue to grow our business with Food Cultures & Enzymes and Health & Nutrition performing slightly better than expected,” he said. “Based on this we have narrowed our organic revenue expectations for 2016/17 to 9-10% from previously 8-10%. Both Food Cultures & Enzymes and Natural Colors delivered further improvements in profitability, while Health & Nutrition showed a solid margin progression in Q3.”
De Jong said the company was making good progress on a capacity expansion for dairy cultures at its Copenhagen site, with preparations underway for the final implementation phase later this year.
“It is exciting to see that we are making solid progress in the area of the human microbiome,” de Jong said, “where we have recently expanded our strain library with lead candidates targeting gastrointestinal, immune and metabolic health. Adding these novel bacterial strains to our portfolio is a major milestone in developing the next-generation probiotics.”
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