Results for the six months ended 30 June 2025
Good sales growth with FY25 outlook unchanged; delivering on our plan to grow earnings and improve returns
Croda International Plc (“Croda” or the “Group”) the company that uses smart science to create high-performance ingredients and solutions that improve lives, announces its results for the six months ended 30 June 2025.
Highlights
| statutory results (IFRS) | Adjusted results | ||||||
| Full year ended 30 June | H125 | H124 | change | H125 | H124 | constant currency change |
change |
| Sales (£m) | 855.8 | 815.9 | 4.9% | 855.8 | 815.9 | 7.3% | 4.9% |
| EBITDA (£m) | 198.5 | 184.5 | 11.0% | 7.6% | |||
| EBITDA as % of sales | 23.2 | 22.6 | - | 0.6ppts | |||
| Operating profit (£m) | 94.4 | 114.4 | (17.5)% | 146.9 | 135.6 | 11.9% | 8.3% |
| Operating profit as a % of sales | 17.2 | 16.6 | - | 0.6ppts | |||
| Profit before tax (£m) | 85.5 | 106.1 | (19.4)% | 138.0 | 127.3 | 11.9% | 8.4% |
| Basic earnings per share (p) | 43.8 | 57.2 | (23.4)% | 72.2 | 68.8 | - | 4.9% |
| Interim dividend per share (p) | 48.0 | 47.0 | 2.1% | ||||
| Free cash flow (£m) | 181.1 | 165.5 | - | 9..4% | |||
| Net debt (£m) | 532.3 | 537.6 | - | (1.0)% | |||
Steve Foots, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“Our performance in the first half was in line with our expectations at the start of the year. Higher sales in all businesses and regions reflect improved volumes in Beauty Care and Crop Protection, as well as another period of strong growth in F&F. Our actions are helping us navigate a challenging environment, simplifying and modernising our business, and supporting our efforts to enhance margins. We have identified a further £60m of cost savings, taking the total to £100m of annualised savings by the end of 2027. There is much more to do but our strategic and operational focus is creating a stronger platform for further progress and our outlook for the Full Year is unchanged.”
Good sales growth in all three businesses
- Group sales +7% at constant currency driven by higher sales volumes, comprising:
- Consumer Care sales +7%, benefitting from higher sales volumes
- Beauty Actives +1%, Beauty Care +3%, Fragrances & Flavours (F&F) +17%, Home Care +7%
- Life Sciences sales +9%, growing in all regions
- Seed +17% and Crop +12% with improved demand from multi-national customers (MNCs)
- Pharma +5% with continued biopharma growth and slow recovery in consumer health
- Industrial Specialties sales +4%
- Q2 sales remained 6% ahead of prior year at constant currency but were sequentially lower than Q1
- Adjusted operating profit +12% at constant currency
- Adjusted operating margin 17.2% (H124: 16.6%)
- Supported by higher volumes and cost savings initiatives; partly offset by FX and price/mix
- IFRS profit before tax of £85.5m (H124: £106.1m); adjustments included £27.3m impairment charges
- Adjusted profit before tax up 8% to £138.0m (H124: £127.3m); equivalent to £142.5m at constant currency
-
Resilient balance sheet
- Cashflow reflected lower capex and higher working capital with inventory and debtors adverse
- Leverage ratio 1.5x (H124: 1.4x), well within our target range of 1-2x EBITDA
- Dividend increased 1p to 48.0p (H124: 47.0p), maintaining record of progression
Delivering on our plan to grow earnings and improve returns
- Driving sales growth
- Benefitting from proximity to local and regional (L&R) customers who are continuing to win share; Consumer Care sales to L&R customers +11% at constant currency
- Ongoing focus on innovation; New and Protected Products (NPP) + 3% at constant currency
- Driving improved returns from portfolio following recent period of peak investment; sales of ceramides, acquired in 2023, were ~50% higher in constant currency
- Increasing efficiency
- Good progress with operational efficiency programme; contributed ~£10m benefits in first half year; continue to expect £25m pre-tax benefits this year
- Increased annualised cost savings target by £60m to £100m by end of 2027 principally by driving efficiencies in production, procurement and enabling functions
- Initiated review of the Group’s production and distribution assets as part of actions to optimise capacity
- Improving returns
- Investment intensity and capex moderating as remaining growth projects are commissioned
- Improving working capital management, targeting reductions in receivables and inventory days
- Applying capital allocation framework to improve investment discipline and returns on capital
Outlook
Whilst we are mindful that the unpredictable political and economic environment continues to create uncertainty across our markets, the Group’s performance was in line with expectations in the first half of the year, and we continue to expect to deliver Group adjusted profit before tax between £265m and £295m in full year 2025 at constant currency.
Croda will provide an update on third quarter sales performance on Thursday 16 October 2025.
Further information
An investor presentation will be available via webcast at 0900 GMT on 29 July 2025 at www.croda.com/investors.
For enquiries contact:
Investors
David Bishop, Croda +44 7823 874428
Reece De Gruchy, Croda +44 7826 548908