A Taste of Wellness for Savoury and Snacks
Givaudan
Hot on the heels of the release of the first quarter results last week that showed a healthy growth in both flavours and fragrances, Swiss company Givaudan on Friday approved a dividend of SF8.10 (€5.41) per registered share, representing an increase of 15.7 per cent on the previous year.
At Givaudan's Annual General Meeting in Geneva last week the company confirmed that sales had grown in local currencies by 18 per cent, amounting to SF2.7 billion, recording an increased EBITDA of SF579 million and a net income of SF256 millions.
At the meeting André Hoffmann, John Martinsen and Jürg Witmer were re-elected for another three years to the board of directors of Givaudan. In addition, the company announced that after the successful completion of the share buy-back, started on 23 October 2002 and completed on 31 March 2003, the company has cancelled the 725,627 repurchased registered shares and reduced the share capital by 8.3 per cent from SF87,256,270 to SF80,000,000. Earnings per share will rise correspondingly.
Givaudan anticipates that the strong liquidity and the high free cash flow will enable it to push forward and continue in its pursuit towards aquisitions.
In December 2002 Givaudan signed an agreement to acquire International Bioflavors (IBF) a producer of cheese and dairy flavours and ingredients for savoury products. The acquisition rapidly followed the integration, in May 2002, of Nestlé's savoury flavour business, Food Ingredients Specialities (FIS), into Givaudan activities.