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Creating ONE Symrise
In fiscal year 2024, Symrise significantly increased its sales and earnings once again despite challenging economic conditions. In the following interview, Dr. Jean-Yves Parisot, the CEO who has been leading the company since the end of March 2024, outlines the reasons for the company’s success and explains how the Group is positioned for the coming years.
Dr. Parisot, how did you experience your first year as CEO of Symrise?
My priority was to gain a deeper insight into our company. I spent several months at our headquarters in Holzminden, engaging with colleagues through meetings and visits to offices, labs and production facilities. I listened to Symrisers’ voices to better understand our strengths and identify where we should improve. I am now even more convinced that by working closer and smarter together we will drive efficiencies and leverage opportunities across all functions of our organization. In the second half of last year, I connected with our regions. I went to Asia, South and North America – to Madagascar and Dubai. I can assure you: Symrise is a great, super-exciting company with committed teams and an extremely large amount of know-how.
You encountered a wide range of challenges in your first year. How did Symrise manage to overcome them?
Ongoing geopolitical conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are causing uncertainty and potential risks for globalized supply chains. Rising inflation rates affected our cost base at Symrise, and we experienced a high level of volatility in our core markets. Nonetheless, we showed how we can still grow very profitably with our unique and diversified portfolio. In the process, we further sharpened our portfolio and extensively improved our cost situation by introducing a global efficiency program at the beginning of 2024. All Symrisers did their part to create a very strong basis for our long-term success. I would like to thank all teams around the world for their dedication, contribution and hard work to achieve these strong results last year.
»We launched a global efficiency program at the start of 2024.«
8.7%
organic growth in 2024
€ 478
million net income
Can you provide us with some figures that illustrate this success?
In 2024, we aimed for an organic sales growth between 5% to 7% – in the fourth quarter of last year we raised our target to grow by more than 7%. At the end of the year, we generated organic growth of 8.7%. This means that we surpassed the average annual sales growth rate since our IPO in 2006. This is a tremendous success. Adjusted for currency and portfolio effects, we boosted sales by 5.7% to around EUR 5 billion.
How did Symrise perform in terms of profitability during this period?
In combination with our efficiency program, we did many things right and achieved a turnaround versus the previous year. We generated an operating income (EBITDA) of more than EUR 1 billion for the first time in the company’s history. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased by more than 14% over last year’s total. The EBITDA margin of 20.7% increased by 160 basis points and was clearly above our adjusted target of more than 20%. Net income attributable to Symrise AG amounted to EUR 478 million, an increase of EUR 138 million from the previous year’s figure. We generated earnings per share of EUR 3.42 and thus surpassed our previous year’s level of EUR 2.44 by EUR 0.98.
Let’s move down a level. What sort of sales and operating income did the individual segments generate?
We saw good growth generated by a high dynamic in both segments. The Taste, Nutrition & Health segment generated sales of more than EUR 3 billion with strong organic growth of 7.8%. EBITDA jumped by 9.5%, driven by profitable growth and increased efficiency. Our Pet Food business has been one of the growth drivers here. Applications for the food and beverages industry also generated very good growth rates. Our Scent & Care segment also performed exceptionally well. Its sales rose to more than EUR 1.9 billion and generated double-digit organic growth of 10.2%. We enjoyed particular success in terms of profitability with an EBITDA margin that rose by 25.4%. The main reasons for this growth were high volume increases, an improved product mix and process improvements. In particular, fragrance and cosmetic ingredients applications continued to perform well. Sales with aroma molecules rose sharply, particularly with double-digit growth in Europe, Africa, the Middle East (EAME) and North America. Both segments are increasingly profiting from their expanded competencies and innovative solutions that extend well beyond flavors and fragrances.
Did the regions also perform so consistently?
All our regions generated growth. Latin America and EAME produced the highest levels of organic growth at more than 15% and more than 10%, respectively. The Asia-Pacific region produced good organic growth of more than 9%. As you know, our North American operations suffered from a major setback due to a fire at one of our plants in 2023. The region returned to a growth trajectory last year and generated a gain of 1.5%.
25.4%
rose the EBITDA margin and thus achieved particular success
Growth achieved by region
North America
+1.5%Latin America
+15.2%EAME
+10.9%Asia /Pacific
+9.3%
How do you intend to continue the success you achieved in 2024 in the future? What direction will your strategy take?
On the Capital Market Day in Holzminden in November, we presented our redefined ONE Symrise strategy. The ONE Symrise strategy aims to harness and amplify the potential of our company. We will continue to focus intensely on our three strategic pillars: Growth, Efficiency and Portfolio. In our work, we looked closely at market trends, customer needs and our understanding of customer expectations. Based on these findings, we redefined our ONE Symrise strategy. The aim is to unleash the full beauty of ONE Symrise. To underpin our growth, we will reinforce a strong ONE innovation ecosystem that will enable us to develop new types of solutions and services. At the same time, we will implement the best practices and adapt the organization wherever necessary to ensure a high degree of efficiency in all processes and functions. We will also further diversify our portfolio to respond to market trends in rapidly growing areas like health & wellness under the umbrella of ONE CARE.
Symrise bundles its know-how across the company in the areas of health and care.
»We want to set ourselves apart from the competition with ONE CARE.«
Could you describe the ONE CARE initiative?
Health and wellness are playing a growing role in people’s lives today. We will leverage our expertise throughout the company to develop holistic solutions. We plan to use ONE CARE to differentiate ourselves from the competition, assure our uniqueness and accelerate our growth. Developing active cosmetic ingredients is a core competence within the Scent & Care segment. In the Taste, Nutrition & Health segment, we have a broad range of active health solutions for healthy diets. The ambition is to bundle the strengths from both sides. In addition, we are in the process of fully integrating Probi, a leading Swedish provider of probiotics and health solutions, into our company – as an important platform that we will use to fuel innovation.
ONE SYM Forum: Meeting of the global Symrise managers in Holzminden.
Symrise has been a pacesetter in sustainability for many years now. What progress have you been able to make in this area and with your non-financial performance indicators?
Our ambition is to operate and act in a sustainable way in all we do. Across the whole value chain from sourcing high quality raw materials, cultivated under high sustainability standards by fully respecting human rights aspects, where we make no compromises. It continues in development and application, for example using artificial intelligence to optimize the use of valuable resources also linked to operations to employ the principles of green chemistry. We measure our activities according to four pillars: Footprint, Innovation, Sourcing and Care. Based on our commitment to climate, water and forest, we have ranked for years as one of the leading companies in these categories as measured by the Carbon Disclosure Projects (CDP).
You practice sustainability in all your business operations. How do you apply these high standards in your company, an organization that has become increasingly large and global? Does this also require a cultural change?
We have been growing faster than the market for years because we intelligently link the special skills that we have in various company functions to increase efficiency in our processes. Our central philosophy of connected thinking and acting will be the basis of the company’s future success. Symrise stands for strong values and has fostered an open and constructive dialogue based on personal responsibility and entrepreneurial action from the very beginning. Nonetheless, we still must be willing to change. This is why we launched the transformation program called ONE SYM. We must remember that our Group employs more than 12,000 people at more than one hundred locations across all continents – this represents a huge organizational and cultural challenge. We have taken on this challenge.
What approach did you take?
ONE SYM is the bridge, the change program we initiated to transform. First, the program focused on jointly designing a Symrise culture compass. Through surveys and workshops involving managers and teams from all regions, four core values were defined by Symrisers’ voices and translated into an actionable framework. Our aim was to unify our needs and ambitions on a collective level. The culture compass created during this process is intended to steer cultural change and shape the workday. But it is not an edict that requires immediate action. It should encourage our teams to reflect on the company’s needs and act together. It also serves as the starting point for the future transformation and implementation of the company’s ONE Symrise strategy.
What is the core idea behind your values?
Our four core values are what link us, what will make us act as ONE Symrise. “Care to Lead” underscores our awareness of work-life balance, empathic management and a strong company identification. “Collaborate with Intent” emphasizes that collaboration is a structured approach designed to enhance efficiency and performance throughout the company. “Embrace Sustainable Growth” expresses our understanding of growth as a continuous process that demands innovation, efficiency and operational excellence for the benefit of all stakeholders. “Unlock the Opportunities” conveys the idea that everyone should have the freedom to seize opportunities to achieve both individual and organizational successes. Our four core values also fully embody our company’s purpose: Innovate in health, wellbeing and beauty for the entire family’s everyday life.
Care to lead
Collaborate with intent
Embrace sustainable growth
Unlock the opportunities
»I would like to thank all employees around the world for their engagement and commitment.«
How do you transform this approach into financial performance?
It is a transformational journey to drive our ONE Symrise strategy. I have three good reasons to believe it will lead to financial performance. The power of our passionate and committed people. Our unique set up for co-building differentiated offers for our customers, with ONE CARE as an accelerator. The implementation of best practices across the entire organization to drive growth and efficiency. The overall goal is to create more value for all our stakeholders, internally and externally.
Let’s return to your financial objectives: What are you planning for future years? You just explained what makes you so confident that you can carry out ambitious plans.
Symrise will continue to profit from its robust and sustainable business model, its diversified portfolio and its broad regional presence and customer base. We will invest in capacities and technologies, and may also pursue strategic acquisitions in the future to bolster our competitiveness and accelerate our transformation into an innovative leader. Megatrends will also have a positive effect on our business. Consumers, for instance, are increasingly interested in holistic well-being and healthy diets. For this reason, our solutions will focus more closely on addressing these health aspects in the future. Sustainability is another aspect of changing consumer behavior. We will make our contribution here as well. Healthy food, alternative proteins and functional solutions will result in a greater variety of consumer products. We therefore confirm our growth guidance: By 2028, we aim to generate average organic growth of 5% to 7%, with an EBITDA margin in the region of 21% to 23%. This will enable us to continue our successful path through strong value creation.