Danisco Reports 5% H1 EBIT Growth

Danisco, a food ingredients and sugar products company, has reported that both ingredients and sugar businesses achieved EBIT margin expansion year over year, thus enabling a 5% growth in EBIT for the half year ended October 31, 2007 before special items in the face of challenging market conditions, particularly higher raw material costs and a weakened US dollar.

Ingredients’s topline grew organically by 3% for the six months ended October 31, 2007 as they were driven by higher prices. The bio-ingredients division was the main growth contributor with 5%. The ingredients business achieved an EBIT margin of 14.2% for the period ended October 31, 2007, compared to 13.5% for the same period last year, driven by advances in both bio-ingredients and texturants & sweeteners.

The company said that the sugar business’s good start to the year continued, and cost containment efforts and an improved sales mix furthe enhanced the company’s confidence in this year’s earnings potential. The EU sugar reform remains a challenge until fully implemented, but the company maintains confidence in its long-term financial targets for the sugar business.

Tom Knutzen, CEO, said: “We have reported another quarter of expansion in the underlying EBIT margin of our ingredients business despite soaring input costs, and we will continue our focus on value creation.”