Our strategy
We deliver shareholder value by being a leading speciality ingredient company, driving sustainable innovation, superior performance and creating value for our customers and consumers.
Smart science to improve lives™
Deliver consistent top and bottom line growth
Through our powerful business model we connect to fast growing markets to grow profit ahead of sales, ahead of volume.
We achieve this through:
- Sharing a clear Purpose
- Applying a strong and resilient business model
- Using our unrivalled local selling capability, with local, direct and digital selling
- Creating a balanced global manufacturing footprint
- Following a proactive and targeted M&A programme, investing in high-return opportunities
- Applying a disciplined approach to capital allocation
What have we done in 2020
- Acquired Avanti Polar Lipids LLC, a US-based business creating delivery systems for pharmaceutical products, expanding our portfolio in Life Sciences
- Acquired Iberchem, a global Fragrances and Flavours business, strengthening our presence in consumer care markets
- Delivered increased sales despite the pandemic, driven by second half recovery and acquisitions
- Invested over £120m in further manufacturing capability, including speciality excipients, and opportunities that leverage Avanti’s expertise
Our priorities in 2021
- Increase capability in sales, marketing, R&D, digital expertise, and skills in Asia
- Realise the value of a new full-service offering for Personal Care and Home Care through our new Consumer Care sector
- Continue to scale our drug delivery business
- Integrate our acquisitions
Increase the proportion of protected innovation
Innovation is the lifeblood of our business, playing a key role in delivering sales and profit growth. Through our technical and commercial expertise, our focus is to increase the sales of new and protected products (NPP).
We achieve this through
- Investing in our own R&D application and regional innovation centres
- Working closely with customers to better understand their needs
- Identifying disruptive technologies
- Working with Open Innovation partners
What have we done in 2020
- Enabled our R&D teams to access laboratories safely during COVID-29 restrictions, protecting our future innovation pipeline
- Added proprietary lipid technology to our capabilities in drug delivery systems through the acquisition of Avanti
- Upgraded innovation centres in Shanghai, the UK and USA enabling us to work more closely with local and global customers
- Continued to invest in our digital programme across the create, make and sell areas of our business model
Our priorities in 2021
- Scale our biotechnology expertise, increasing investment and smart partnerships to scale up, in line with sector and sustainability goals
- Continue to build our digital capability in knowledge management
Accelerate our customers’ transition to sustainable ingredients
Sustainability connects all aspects of our business. Building on our bio-based raw material heritage, we are evolving our products, technologies and supply chain to meet customer and consumer needs.
We achieve this through
- Creating ingredients that provide a benefit in use with reduced environmental impact
- Aligning our business with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- Identifying the short, medium, and long-term time horizons and specific climate-related risks and opportunities which could have a material financial impact on us
What have we done in 2020
- Established interim goals against which we are measuring our progress towards meeting our 2030 sustainability Commitment
- Developed decarbonisation roadmaps for our top ten carbon-emitting sites
- Continued to increase the positive impact of our actions and deliver benefits for our customers and consumers
- Started to replace traditional petrochemical surfactants with our ECO range of bio-based products
- Identified impacts to products and our supply/value chain under various climate-related scenarios. Identified adaptation and mitigation activities and invested in R&D and operations to increase resilience
Our priorities in 2021
- Continue assessment of the carbon benefits of Croda’s products in use
- Begin implementation of decarbonisation roadmaps for our top ten sites
- Develop decarbonisation roadmaps for our other sites
- Continue to monitor where our strategies may be affected by climate-related risks and opportunities, extending work already done for recent acquisitions