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Reuters
Published
Feb 2, 2016
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Givaudan cautious on China, emerging markets after Q4 acceleration

By
Reuters
Published
Feb 2, 2016

Givaudan is cautious on China and emerging markets growth after sales growth accelerated there in the fourth quarter, Chief Executive Gilles Andrier told Reuters after the flavours and fragrance maker reported full-year results.

Givaudan


"All in all, we grew 10 percent in China last year," Andrier said on Tuesday. "So we are back to the normalised growth rate that we've seen over the past years. Obviously, we have to be careful looking ahead. There are uncertainties in China, but there are uncertainties in many parts of the world."

Givaudan's growth strategy relies on gains in emerging markets through 2020, which would see sales in designated "high growth" markets from China and Brazil to Mexico, Indonesia and Nigeria overtake those of mature markets.

"If we listen to the newswires on macroeconomics but also to our clients, every one of our large clients who have recently reported are quite cautious over 2016. It doesn't mean it won't be good, it doesn't mean it won't be bad but, again, the list of countries where you have uncertainty is a bit longer than usual," Andrier said.

Givaudan is also looking to grow through acquisitions.

Andrier said that Givaudan is interested in small, medium or big acquisitions, particularly within the growing businesses outside Givaudan's traditional fragrance and flavour divisions, which include active cosmetic ingredients, integrated solutions and health and wellness tastes.

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