Snack flavours deliver double digit gains for Givaudan

07-Oct-2010 - Last updated on 08-Oct-2010 at 11:25 GMT

The snack and sweet goods category delivered double digit gains for flavour and fragrance house, Givaudan, which recorded overall sales of CHF 3,283m in the first nine months of 2010.

The company reported that its flavour division notched up sales of CHF 1,744m in the period, which translated as a hike of 6.5 per cent in Swiss francs.

“The developing markets, with almost 40 per cent of sales, continued their strong growth trends whilst the growth of the mature markets was driven by volume gains, both with existing products and new wins,” noted the flavour and fragrance producer.

It added that its three pillar growth strategy - emerging markets, health and wellness as well as market share gains with targeted customers and segments – was yielding results.

For the fourth quarter 2010, Givaudan said it expects a continued good performance and stressed that it is confident of achieving its stated 2010 full year objectives, with the goal being to grow organically between 4.5 and 5.5 per cent per annum, assuming a market growth of 2 to 3 per cent.

Speaking to BakeryandSnacks.com, Peter Wullschleger, a spokesperson for Givaudan, said that its product range that allows manufacturers to restore lost taste in low sodium products - TasteSolutions Salt - was a significant contributor to the revenue gains.

With excess salt in the diet linked to increased risk of high blood pressure and stroke, the company has been benefitting from snack makers' reformulation efforts to reduce salt levels in their products but still ensure they are acceptable to consumers.

New wins in Africa and the Middle East markets coupled with an improved economic environment in Eastern Europe helped fuel the developing markets increase. “The diverse range and volume of snack production in the Middle East in particular has been a revenue driver in that region,” added the spokesperson.

Wullschleger claims that Givaudan’s regional knowledge and awareness of taste preferences in markets such as Latin America has also helped fuel growth there.

“All markets are above last year with Brazil and Argentina posting very strong growth rates. Existing products and new wins contributed to the growth across all segments, particularly in beverage, dairy and sweet goods,” stated the flavour and fragrance house.

Givaudan sales in the Asia Pacific market increased by 9.3 per cent in local currencies, with the developing markets of China, Indonesia and India recording strong growth coming from beverage, snack and sweet goods category wins.

“The mature markets remained positive with strong growth from Japan and with all segments contributing to the regional performance,” continued the firm.

Sales across Europe continued to build on the positive first half results, posting a 4.8 per cent growth rate for the developing and mature markets in local currency, it stated.

However, the flavour house noted that “the mature markets were negatively impacted during the third quarter specifically in Ireland, Great Britain and Northern Europe markets as a direct result of the weaker Western European economic environment and outlook.”

While, recent volume gains and new wins coming from beverage, dairy and sweet goods helped improve North America's sales growth rate to 8.1 per cent in local currencies.

Meanwhile, the fragrance division notched up sales of CHF 1,539m in the period, a growth of 10.9 per cent in Swiss francs, noted the company. In addition, sales of fragrance ingredients increased by 12.6 per cent in local currencies. “This double digit growth was achieved thanks to an overall high level of demand, particularly for specialities.”