Amsterdam / NL. (cb) The Netherland’s Corbion reported H1 2018 sales of EUR 439.2 million, a decrease of 4.9 percent compared to H1 2017, entirely due to negative currency effects. Organic sales growth was 3.1 percent. Ebitda excluding one-off items in H1 2018 decreased by 19.0 percent to EUR 71.5 million due to negative currency effects and the inclusion of the Algae Ingredients business. Organic Ebitda excluding one-off items increased by 1.2 percent in H1 2018.
«I am happy to report that we have seen a continuation of improving organic sales growth rates in our Food business segment which returned to growth in Q2 after a challenging period. In the first half year, Corbion performed within the sales growth rate target bandwidth of our Creating Sustainable Growth strategy. Margins in Ingredient Solutions remained at a healthy level of around 20 percent. As expected, our profitability in Innovation Platforms is adversely impacted by the inclusion of the newly acquired Algae Ingredients business which is in an early stage of development. We believe that this platform offers many exciting growth opportunities for Corbion, leveraging our expertise of running industrial scale organic acid operations», comments Tjerk de Ruiter, CEO.
Key financial highlights first half of 2018
- Net sales organic growth was 3.1 percent; volume growth was 6.6 percent
- Ebitda excluding one-off items was EUR 71.5 million (H1 2017: EUR 88.3 million)
- Ebitda margin before one-off items was 16.3 percent (H1 2017: 19.1 percent)
- One-off items at Ebitda level of EUR -1.8 million
- Operating result was EUR 50.2 million
- Free cash flow was EUR -16.3 million (H1 2017: EUR 2.3 million). The decline is mostly due to investments in the Total Corbion PLA and SB Renewable Oils joint ventures
- Net debt/Ebitda at half year end was 1.8x (year-end 2017: 1.0x)
| EUR in million | YTD 2018 | YTD 2017 | Total growth | Organic growth |
| Net sales | 439.2 | 461.9 | -4.9% | 3.1% |
| Ebitda excluding one-off items | 71.5 | 88.3 | -19.0% | 1.2% |
| Ebitda margin excluding one-off items | 16.3% | 19.1% | ||
| Operating result | 50.2 | 73.1 | -31.3% | -7.7% |
| ROCE | 13.0% | 21.4% |
