Company Reports

Givaudan is a market leader in the global flavor and fragrance industry. The company creates customized flavor and fragrance formulations from over 11,000 natural and synthetic raw materials for its customers, which manufacture consumer staples like food, beverages, and household care products. Flavor and fragrance companies occupy a strong position in the value chain, as their formulations make up a minute portion of the final product cost but play a decisive role in a consumer's purchasing decision.

Givaudan reported like-for-like sales growth of 4.3% for the second quarter of 2026, accelerating sequentially. But the solid top-line delivery was overshadowed by a 20% year-on-year drop in net income, and shares fell around 5% at the market open on July 23.

Givaudan reported like-for-like sales growth of 2.8% in the first quarter, a sequential slowdown. However, the results exceeded the company-compiled consensus, sending the shares up 5% at the market open on April 14.

Givaudan is a market leader in the global flavor and fragrance industry. The company creates customized flavor and fragrance formulations from over 11,000 natural and synthetic raw materials for its customers, which manufacture consumer staples like food, beverages, and household care products. Flavor and fragrance companies occupy a strong position in the value chain, as their formulations make up a minute portion of the final product cost but play a decisive role in a consumer's purchasing decision.

Givaudan reported like-for-like sales growth of 5.1% for full-year 2025, with growth slowing sequentially in the fourth quarter. Weaker sales led to a 30-basis-point reduction in the full-year comparable EBITDA margin. Shares declined 6% at the opening of the market on Jan. 29.

Givaudan delivered organic sales growth of 5.7% for the first nine months, slightly ahead of the 5.5% company-compiled consensus. Growth was primarily volume-driven, with volumes up around 5% and pricing slightly below 1%, reflecting raw materials and tariff-related price increases.

Givaudan reported first-half 2025 organic sales growth of 6.3% and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 25.2%. Organic sales growth was slightly below the company-compiled consensus of 6.9%, but profitability exceeded expectations. The share price was down 5% in July 22 trading.

Givaudan reported first-quarter organic sales growth of 7.4%, ahead of the 6% company-compiled consensus. The shares rose about 4% in April 10 trading, supported by the solid results and relief from the delayed US tariffs.

Givaudan is a market leader in the global flavor and fragrance industry. The company creates customized flavor and fragrance formulations from over 11,000 natural and synthetic raw materials for its customers, which manufacture consumer staples like food, beverages, and household care products. Flavor and fragrance companies occupy a strong position in the value chain, as their formulations make up a minute portion of the final product cost but play a decisive role in a consumer's purchasing decision.

Ingredient producer shares initially showed resilience following the tariff news on April 2 because it had limited direct impact on them. However, they were swept up in the market turbulence and corrected by a mid- to high-single digit on April 7 as investors began to digest the implications.

Givaudan reported solid organic sales growth of 10.1% in the fourth quarter of 2024. The positive operating leverage from substantial volume growth throughout the year contributed to a 210-basis-point full-year comparable EBITDA margin accretion in a generally benign inflation environment.

Givaudan is a market leader in the global flavour and fragrance industry. The company creates customised flavour and fragrance formulations from over 10,000 natural and synthetic raw materials for its customers, which manufacture consumer staples like food, beverages, and household-care products. F&F companies occupy a strong position in the value chain, as their formulations make up a minute portion of the final product cost but play a decisive role in a consumer’s purchasing decision.

Wide-moat Givaudan reported 14.1% organic growth in the third quarter, well ahead of company-compiled consensus of 10.4%. Volume growth for the first nine months of 2024 was robust at 10.2%. While raw material-driven pricing remained muted, foreign-exchange pricing adjustments in Latin America contributed 2.5% to the group’s revenue, fueling the region’s 29% organic growth. The volume performance was bolstered by a resurgence in innovation demand from consumer packaged-goods clients as they drive efforts to accelerate their own volume growth. Management anticipates more normalized growth rates—typically in the mid-single-digit range—for the fourth quarter, although they caution that visibility is limited. Nevertheless, 2024 is shaping up to be an exceptional year for Givaudan with a solid recovery in volume and EBITDA margins after a challenging 2023 marked by widespread customer destocking. We don’t expect to make a material change to our CHF 3,200 fair value estimate. At current levels, the shares look overvalued.

Wide-moat Givaudan delivered solid first-half results, broadly in line with company-compiled consensus. Like-for-like sales growth was 12.5% for the period, driven primarily by volume growth of around 9%, with muted inflation-driven pricing. The adjusted EBITDA margin was 24.8%, 210 basis points ahead of last year. We are increasing our fair value estimate by 5% to CHF 3,200 per share after reflecting the robust first-half 2024 results in our short-term forecast. Despite this bump in fair value, we believe shares remain substantially overvalued, trading in 1-star territory. We don’t think this level of organic sales growth and EBITDA margin is maintainable for the group and we struggle to justify the current valuation of nearly 40 times 2024 consensus earnings.

Givaudan is a market leader in the global flavour and fragrance industry. The company creates customised flavour and fragrance formulations from over 10,000 natural and synthetic raw materials for its customers, which manufacture consumer staples like food, beverages, and household-care products. F&F companies occupy a strong position in the value chain, as their formulations make up a minute portion of the final product cost but play a decisive role in a consumer’s purchasing decision.

Wide-moat Givaudan reported like-for-like sales growth of 12.6% in the first quarter of 2024, substantially ahead of the company-compiled consensus of 6.9%. The growth was primarily volume-driven (volume up by 8.5%) as customers’ appetite for innovation was rekindled and destocking measures are now more firmly a thing of the past. Price contributed 4.1% to top-line growth, mainly as a result of foreign exchange-driven pricing actions taken in countries like Argentina or Turkey. Input cost inflation-driven pricing was marginal, only related to some natural raw materials such as citrus. Despite the strong underlying performance, the strong Swiss franc continued to weigh on the top line, with reported sales in Swiss francs up only 2.8%. With this, we don’t expect to make any material change to our 2024 full-year forecast that calls for top-line growth of 4.5% or to our CHF 3,050 fair value estimate. At current levels, shares look significantly overvalued.

Givaudan is a market leader in the global flavor and fragrance industry. The company creates customised flavour and fragrance formulations from over 10,000 natural and synthetic raw materials for its customers, which manufacture consumer staples like food, beverages, and household-care products. F&F companies occupy a strong position in the value chain, as their formulations make up a minute portion of the final product cost but play a decisive role in a consumer’s purchasing decision.

Wide-moat Givaudan reported 2023 organic sales growth of 4.1%, ahead of the 3.6% company-compiled consensus. Both reporting segments contributed to the overdelivery, with the fragrance and beauty segment recording the highest delta (7.6% actual compared with 6.8% consensus) as consumer fragrance volume growth picked up in the fourth quarter and the fine fragrance subsegment continued to deliver stellar performance. The strong Swiss franc weighed significantly on the top line, however, leading to reported sales growth of negative 2.8% for the year.

Wide-moat Givaudan reported third-quarter 2023 organic sales growth of 4%, ahead of company-compiled consensus of 2.5%. Both reporting segments had a relatively equal contribution to the outperformance. The fragrance and beauty segment delivered organic sales growth of 6.5% (compared with 4.9% consensus) and the taste and wellbeing segment delivered 1.7% organic sales growth (compared with 0.1% consensus). Still, despite the solid like-for-like growth for the group a negative currency effect of around 8% in the quarter meant that sales, reported in Swiss francs, were lower year on year. All in all, we are maintaining our CHF 2,900 fair value estimate and we expect full-year organic sales growth of 3.1%, but a decline of around 3% for sales in Swiss francs. We believe shares are fairly valued at current levels.

Wide-moat Givaudan reported mixed first-half 2023 results, with lower-than-expected sales growth but a stronger-than-expected EBITDA margin. Like-for-like sales growth was 2.4% (versus 3.4% in the company-compiled consensus) and the EBITDA margin was 21.6% (compared with 20.7% in the consensus). The strong Swiss franc continued to weigh on the top line, leading to reported half-year growth of negative 3.2%. We don’t expect to change our CHF 2,900 fair value estimate at this time as the lower sales, yet stronger margin delivery, largely offset each other in our forecast. We believe shares are fairly valued.