Amsterdam / NL. (cb) Dutch Corbion NV, the Amsterdam-listed sustainable ingredients company that champions preservation through the application of science, publishes its results for the quarter ending 31 March 2024. Key highlights first quarter of 2024:
- Organic growth core activities:
- Sales: volume/mix +1.7 percent, price -4.5 percent
- Adjusted Ebitda: +0.7 percent
- Adjusted Ebitda margin 13.8 percent (+ 50bps versus last year)
- Sales EUR 344.3 million; an organic decrease of -3.4 percent
- Adjusted Ebitda EUR 47.2 million; an organic decrease of -1.2 percent
- Positive Free Cash Flow EUR 7.5 million
- Double digit growth in sales and Adjusted Ebitda in Health + Nutrition
- TotalEnergies Corbion joint venture: sales EUR 31.6 million; an organic growth of 24.3 percent
- Divestment of non-core US Emulsifier business completed on April 1st
- Share buyback program of EUR 20.0 million and special cash dividend of EUR 0.10 per share
- Confirmation of FY-2024 outlook
| (EUR in million) | Q1-2024 | Q1-2023 | Total growth | Organic growth |
| Sales | 344.3 | 359.6 | -4.3% | -3.4% |
| Adjusted Ebitda | 47.2 | 48.4 | -2.5% | -1.2% |
| Core activities | ||||
| Sales | 300.9 | 312.5 | -3.7% | -2.8% |
| Adjusted Ebitda | 41.4 | 41.6 | -0.5% | 0.7% |
Commenting on the results, Olivier Rigaud, CEO, said: «I am pleased to see positive volume/mix growth and organic Adjusted Ebitda growth in our core activities as well as a continuation of our positive free cash flow delivery. We made good progress in the implementation of our restructuring program including mothballing our plant in Peoria, US intended to increase free cash flow and margins going forward. Building on Corbion’s Q1 performance, we are on-track to deliver in line with our full year guidance.
«In Functional Ingredients and Solutions, we saw continued positive momentum in our Food segment leading to volume/mix growth in the first quarter in this segment. As previously indicated, the non-food segment is facing temporarily softness in some markets, including semiconductors. In line with our earlier guidance, pricing has been lower as a result of price reductions in some areas following input cost relaxation. In Health + Nutrition, we continue to see strong double digit growth in both sales and adjusted Ebitda mainly driven by the Nutrition segment (Omega-3 DHA within aquaculture and pet nutrition).
«Upon the completion of the commissioning phase of our new circular lactic acid plant in Thailand, we have entered the start-up phase and expect production to gradually ramp up. «On April 1st, we completed the divestment of the non-core US Emulsifier business. As a result, we have decided on a share buyback program of EUR 20 million and a special cash dividend of EUR 0.10 per share in line with our capital allocation priorities, leaving sufficient bandwidth for investments to support continued growth.»
