Recent financial performance and KPIs
Our most recent results for the full year 2021 were announced on 1 March 2022:
All businesses trading ahead of pre-pandemic levels
- Underlying sales up 26% on 2020 – comprising volume up 9% and price/mix up 17%
- Underlying sales 18% ahead of 2019, excluding lipid systems*
- Adjusted operating profit up 47% on 2020 (and 38% higher than 2019)
- IFRS profit before tax up 53%
- Return on sales up 180 basis points to 24.8% (2020: 23.0%)
- Adjusted earnings per share up 43% on 2020 (and 35% higher than 2019)
*Lipid systems comprise lipid excipients and other Avanti lipid technology products. They are excluded from this growth calculation to give a more informative comparator to 2019, given the sales arising from COVID-19 contracts secured since 2019.
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Croda full year 2021 results presentation 1 March 2022
Croda full year 2021 Financial Results Statement 2021
Croda International full year 2021 results transcript
Steve Foots, CEO Croda, talks about our record full year 2021 results
Record results due to:
Significant benefit from recent acquisitions – £58m additional operating profit and stronger growth platform
- Lipid systems platform well established in patient health care delivery – approximately US$200m (£145m) sales, primarily to our principal vaccine customers
- Fast growth across all three patient health care platforms – 130 new customers and 250 new programmes, two thirds for non-COVID applications
- Encouraging F&F performance despite challenging emerging markets; first cross-selling synergies delivered
Financial performance 2021
| Highlights | 2021 | 2020 | % Change |
| Sales (£m) | 1,889.6 | 1,390.3 |
35.9% |
| Adjusted operating profit (£m) | 468.6 | 319.6 |
46.6% |
| Return on sales (%) | 24.8% |
23.0% |
+180bps |
| Adjusted profit before tax (£m) | 445.2 |
300.6 |
48.1% |
| Adjusted basic earnings per share (p) | 250.0 | 175.5 |
42.5% |
| Ordinary dividend per share (p) | 100.0 | 91.0 | +9.9% |
| Free cash flow (£m) | 153.6 |
176.9 |
(13.2%) |
| Net debt (£m) | 823.2 |
800.5 |
2.8% |
Croda full year 2021 Financial Results Statement 2021
Significant benefit from recent acquisitions – £58m additional operating profit and stronger growth platform
- Lipid systems platform well established in patient health care delivery – approximately US$200m (£145m) sales, primarily to our principal vaccine customers
- Fast growth across all three patient health care platforms – 130 new customers and 250 new programmes, two thirds for non-COVID applications
- Encouraging F&F performance despite challenging emerging markets; first cross-selling synergies delivered
Strategic transition to pure-play Consumer Care and Life Sciences company with accelerated investment
- Agreement to sell majority of Performance Technologies and Industrial Chemicals (‘PTIC’) for €915m (including €140m for Sipo, subject to Croda acquiring 100%) – completion expected summer 2022
- Organic capital investment increased over 30% to nearly £160m, with resultant free cash flow 13% lower – confidence in investment to support strategy to scale consumer, health and crop care businesses to drive consistent sales growth and even stronger profit margins
| Highlights | 2021 | 2020 | % Change |
| Sales (£m) | 763.0 | 527.8 | 44.6% |
| Adjusted operating profit (£m) | 188.5 | 146.5 | 28.7% |
| Return on sales (%) | 24.7 | 27.8 | -310bps |
| NPP (%) | 44 | 38 |
+600bps |
Consumer Care sector review 2021
Delivering a stronger Consumer Care performance – total sales increased by 45%, underlying by 18%
- Strong rebound in Personal Care, reflecting performance of both Beauty Actives and Beauty Care
- Continued innovation – NPP reached 44% of total sector sales (2020: 38%)
- Acquired Alban Muller and Parfex – accelerating transition to more natural raw materials
| Highlights | 2021 | 2020 | % Change |
| Sales (£m) | 572.3 | 392.5 | 45.8% |
| Adjusted operating profit (£m) | 208.5 | 124.5 | 67.5% |
| Return on sales (%) | 36.4 | 31.7 | +470bps |
| NPP (%) | 48 | 27 |
+2100bps |
Life Sciences Sector review 2021
Outstanding performance in Life Sciences – total sales up 46%, underlying sales excluding lipid systems* up 18%
- Record adjusted operating profit, up 68% – return on sales of 36.4% (2020: 31.7%)
- Health Care sales growth of 80% – excellent performance in patient health care, led by lipid systems for COVID-19 mRNA vaccines
- Significant increase in innovation – NPP at 48% (2020: 27%)
- Strong second half performance in Crop Protection, offsetting softness in Seed Enhancement
*Lipid systems comprise lipid excipients and other Avanti lipid technology products. They are excluded from this growth calculation to give a more informative comparator to 2019, given the sales arising from COVID-19 contracts secured since 2019.
“2021 has been an outstanding year for Croda, with record financial results and excellent strategic progress. All parts of the business have delivered underlying growth, ahead of 2019 pre-pandemic levels, with strong cost recovery in a high inflation environment. Our Health Care business delivered an exceptional performance as a result of the work we have done to support the global roll out of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and therapeutic drugs, and a rapidly building pipeline of non-COVID applications. This progress has been supported by further organic and inorganic investment to increase innovation and strengthen our platform for future growth.
“I’m grateful to Croda colleagues around the world who have risen to the dual challenges of responding to a rapid recovery in customer demand whilst managing ongoing COVID-19 restrictions. I am also delighted that we have established the Croda Foundation, which is already helping over 50 million people globally by supporting vaccine infrastructure.
Our excellent strategic progress during the COVID-19 pandemic has included progressing our transition to a pure-play Consumer Care and Life Sciences company, with our agreement to sell the majority of our industrial businesses. As a result, Croda will now be focused on faster growth, higher return markets, positioning us to deliver more consistent sales growth and an even stronger profit margin.”
Steve Foots, Chief Executive Officer
Key performance indicators (KPIs)
We identify targets and measure our progress towards delivering our strategic objectives.
We updated our sustainability KPIs in 2020 to reflect our commitment to be Climate, Land and People Positive by 2030.
Croda key performance indicators full year 2021
Financial calendar
Key dates in our financial calendar for results, presentations, shareholder meetings and dividend timings.
Find out moreAnnual Report
During 2021, the strength and quality of our business model has been further demonstrated.
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