Israeli food flavors and specialty ingredients company Frutarom Industries Ltd. (TASE: FRUT; LSE:FRUT; OTCBB:FRUTF) saw sales for the first quarter of 2016 rise 32.7% to $257.7 million, compared with $194.2 million in the corresponding quarter. At constant exchange rates, sales growth was 5.9% in pro-forma terms. The company said that changes in the exchange rates of currencies in which it operates against the US dollar reduced sales growth in pro-forma terms by 4.2%.
Frutarom's net profit for the first quarter of 2016 (adjusted for non-recurring expenses) grew by 22.1% to $26.4 million. Reported net income was $21.5 million, compared with $21.4 million in the first quarter of 2015.
Since the beginning of 2016, Frutarom has completed acquisitions to the tune of $182 million. The company has set a sales target of $2 billion by 2020, with EBITDA of over 22% on its core activities.
Frutarom president and CEO Ori Yehudai said, "First quarter 2016 produced another milestone in our journey of rapid and profitable growth. The successful implementation of our growth strategy, combining profitable internal growth at higher than average market growth rates together with strategic acquisitions that contribute to the ongoing improvement in our results, has brought us another record quarter in both sales and profits.
"The accelerated sales growth this quarter derives from a combination of rapid internal growth in core activities - the Flavors division and the Specialty Fine Ingredients division - which grew 6.3% (in pro-forma terms on a constant currency basis) along with the contribution of the strategic acquisitions we made."
Yehudai added, "The acquisitions contributed to the growth in sales and profit, but the quarterly results do not yet reflect the profitability expected following their merger and the efficiency measures we are taking which are progressing successfully and according to plan and are expected to bring operational savings on an annual scope of US$ 20-22 million."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 24, 2016
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