Croda International Plc (LON:CRDA) has announced its results for the six months ended 30 June 2026
Highlights
| Statutory results (IFRS) | Adjusted results | |||||||
| Half year ended 30 June | H126 | H125 | Change | H126 | H125 | Organic change | Change | |
| Sales (£m) | 880.5 | 855.8 | 2.9% | 880.5 | 855.8 | 4.6% | 2.9% | |
| EBITDA (£m) | 207.9 | 198.5 | 5.5% | 4.7% | ||||
| EBITDA as a % of sales | 23.6% | 23.2% | – | 0.4ppts | ||||
| Operating profit (£m) | 115.5 | 94.4 | 22.4% | 155.8 | 146.9 | 6.7% | 6.1% | |
| Operating profit as a % of sales | 17.7% | 17.2% | – | 0.5ppts | ||||
| Profit before tax (£m) | 107.4 | 85.5 | 25.6% | 147.7 | 138.0 | 7.6% | 7.0% | |
| Basic earnings per share (p) | 56.5 | 43.8 | 29.0% | 78.6 | 72.2 | – | 8.9% | |
| Interim dividend per share (p) | 48.0 | 48.0 | 0% | |||||
| Free cash flow (£m) | 38.3 | 28.0* | – | 36.8% | ||||
| Net debt (£m) | 577.9 | 580.1 | – | (0.4)% | ||||
| * | Restated to include cash costs of exceptional items in free cash flow, see page 4 | |||||||
Steve Foots, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“We have delivered a good first half performance in line with our expectations with strong growth in Consumer Care. Group profits continue to grow ahead of sales, reflecting both increased customer demand for innovation and the benefits of our transformation programme. We are rigorously executing our plan to grow earnings and returns, successfully reinvigorating Beauty and seeing the early benefits of rebalancing Pharma. Despite the ongoing macro uncertainty, our outlook for full year 2026 is unchanged and we remain on track to deliver our financial framework for full year 2028.”
Delivering innovation-led growth
| · | 4.6% Group organic sales growth (osg) in H126 driven by Consumer Care comprising: | ||
| · | Consumer Care +8%: | ||
| ○ | Beauty Actives +19%, Beauty Care +4%, Home Care +9%, Fragrances & Flavours (F&F) +8% | ||
| · | Life Sciences flat: | ||
| ○ | Pharma +1%, Crop (2)%, Seed +4% | ||
| · | Industrial Specialties (2)% | ||
| · | Strong Q2 sales performance at +9% | ||
| ○ | Limited impact from situation in the Middle East | ||
| · | Increased customer demand for innovation | |
| · | 6.9% organic sales increase in New & Protected Products, growing faster than total sales | |
| · | Positive volume and price/mix, reflecting growing demand for innovation-led solutions | |
| · | 6.7% organic increase in adjusted operating profit to £155.8m (H125: £146.9m) reflecting innovation-led growth and transformation benefits | ||
| · | Adjusted operating margin 17.7% (H125: 17.2%) | ||
| ○ | Expect further expansion in H2 supported by growth and additional transformation efficiencies | ||
| · | IFRS operating profit of £115.5m (H125: £94.4m) | ||
| · | 36.8% increase in free cashflow to £38.3m (H125: £28.0m restated*) supported by lower capex | |
| · | Leverage ratio 1.4x (H125: 1.5x) | |
| · | Interim dividend held flat at 48.0p as we restore earnings cover | |
Executing our three-year plan to grow earnings and returns
| · | Driving consistent sales growth | ||
| · | Reinvigorating Beauty – growing share in “affordable beauty”, customers’ premium categories doing well | ||
| · | Rebalancing Pharma | ||
| ○ | Sales +7% in Ingredients (which represents >70% total Pharma sales), reflecting our actions to rebalance resources | ||
| ○ | Sales (17)% in Solutions, adversely impacted by project phasing; project revenues expected to improve in H2 | ||
| · | Maximising returns from investments – ceramide sales +44% following a slow start post-acquisition; completed Asia expansion opening 2 new production sites in India and China | ||
| · | Delivering transformation to enhance both growth and efficiency | ||
| · | On track to deliver ~£100m efficiency benefits and ~£50m working capital improvements for FY28 | ||
| · | Delivered £18m of incremental savings in H126 in addition to the £10m benefits realised in the H125 comparator and the £18m delivered in H225 | ||
| · | On track to achieve framework to Full Year 2028 with progress across all key financial metrics | ||
FY26 outlook unchanged
There is no change to our outlook for full year 2026 despite the ongoing geopolitical and macro-economic uncertainty. We continue to expect:
| · | Group organic sales growth within our 3-6% range |
| · | A further increase in Group adjusted operating margin driven by improving profitability in Consumer Care and Life Sciences and the benefits of our transformation programme |
Our expectations for Group full year 2026 adjusted operating profit are unchanged.
We will provide an update on third quarter sales performance on Thursday 5 November 2026.
Technical foreign exchange guidance
The guidance for Group performance in 2026 and financial framework to 2028 are provided on a constant currency basis. Constant currency expectations are based on the Group’s average exchange rates through 2025 which were US$1.32 and €1.17. The US Dollar and the Euro together represent approximately 65% of the Group’s currency translation exposure. We estimate that the average annual currency translation impact on adjusted operating profit is £1m per Dollar cent movement per annum and £1m per Euro cent movement per annum. The impact from movements in remaining smaller currencies is broadly aligned with the impact from movements in the US Dollar. Foreign currency translation adversely impacted adjusted operating profit by £1.0m in H126. If foreign exchange rates in the period from July 2026 to December 2026 were to reflect the same levels as June 2026 closing rates, it is anticipated that there would be a negative impact of approximately £4m on reported FY26 operating profit inclusive of the anticipated impact from hyperinflation accounting.
