Scent & Care
Scent & Care reached sales of €
671.3 million in 2007 growing by 6.5% on a local currency basis
compared to last year. At actual rates, sales grew by 3.7%.
All regions showed a very good sales performance. On a local currency basis, the division’s sales in the EAME region increased 3.7% (at actual rates 3.0%). The sales generated in the North America region showed strong growth, increasing 11.2% on a local currency basis (2.4% at actual exchange rates).
On a local-currency basis, sales in the Asia Pacific region increased by a strong 9% (at actual rates 6.4%) with South America 4.4% up on a local currency basis (at actual rates 4.7%).
At a divisional level, Fragrance grew by 5.0% (2.3% at actual rates), driven by Fine Fragrance (+8.5%, 4.7% at actual rates), with several new prestige accounts (Black XS for Her Paco Rabanne Puig, Hypnose Homme Lancôme L’Oreal, L’Instant Magic Guerlain LVMH, Azzaro Now Men Clarins Group, Red Delicious Donna Karan Estee Lauder, Missoni Acqua Estee Lauder) and followed by Personal Care, particularly strong in the EAME region (+5.2%, 4.4% at actual rates) and by Household, showing a double-digit growth in North America (+16.4%, 6.6% at actual rates). The Mint Unit also had a highly successful year, with double digit growth in Asia Pacific (+22.6%, 19.4% at actual rates) and a very high win rate on defend and new business.
On a customer level, Fragrance grew over-proportionally (+8.9%) with its top 10 customers, a key indicator of the successful implementation of the divisional strategy. The Fragrance Division successfully pursued the strategy of reinforcing its creative team and several highly talented perfumers joined the company in the course of the year, consolidating the foundation for an even stronger win rate in coming years.
Cosmetic Ingredients also enjoyed double-digit growth globally (+10.6%, 7.5% at actual rates), driven by successful sales of UV filters, especially in EAME (+8.3%, 7.9% at actual rates).
The focus of sales and development resources on the top 10 customers continues to pay off and we experienced growth of 11.5%: This is fully in line with the divisional strategy.
In all divisions and business units sales of “AND” products developed extremely nicely with a growth of 15.7% (11.8% at actual rates) globally.
In the Scent & Care division, EBITDA rose from € 112.9 million in 2006 to € 134.7 million in 2007. Increased operating profit is due mainly to the improved sales and higher gross margin due to improved profitability of new business and strict cost management, generating an EBITDA margin of 20.1% (2006: 17.4%).
