AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS — Corbion gave innovative products as one reason for strong results in its U.S. bakery activities in the fiscal year’s second quarter. Cost-effective preservative systems, meanwhile, boosted meat results in the United States. Behind its U.S. results, Corbion companywide reported a 23% increase in net sales and nearly a 50% increase in EBITDA excluding one-off items.
“EBITDA grew strongly, driven by organic growth, the continuing strength of the U.S. dollar and the benefits of our productivity improvement program Streamline, which are coming through at a more rapid pace than initially expected,” said Tjerk de Ruiter, chief executive officer of Amsterdam-based Corbion, when second-quarter results were given Aug. 12.
EBITDA excluding one-off items were €40.1 million ($44.8 million), which compared with €26.8 million in the previous year’s second quarter. EBITDA was €39.9 million, which compared with €24 million. Net sales in the second quarter increased to €232.3 million ($259.8 million) from €188.3 million.
In the company’s Biobased Ingredients segment, EBITDA excluding one-off items was €40.8 million, up from €30.1 million in the previous year’s second quarter, and net sales were €228.9 million, up from €187.1 million. Within the segment, food business contributed EBITDA excluding one-off items of €34.3 million, up from €27.1 million, and net sales of €177.9 million, up from €143.8 million.
“In the U.S., our bakery activities benefited from the general consumer recovery in addition to good results with our innovative products in bread and sweet products,” Corbion said. “This was despite a temporary production disruption created by the Grandview incident.”
Corbion previously has said it expects a March 11 explosion in a spray tower at a manufacturing facility in Grandview, Mo., to have a negative financial impact of about €3 million in net sales for fiscal year 2015. Three employees were taken to a hospital on March 11 and released the same day.
Meat net sales in the second quarter grew across all regions, including for a third quarter in a row in the United States.
“Although we are experiencing lower-than-anticipated switching activity by our customers to low-cost-in-use alternatives, many of our customers continue to seek cost advantages for their preservative solutions, and we stay focused on protecting our positions in this market,” Corbion said. “There was good growth in premium label-friendly products in the U.S. Growth in meat in the rest of the world was driven by progress in Latin America and Asia.”
Corbion said it struggled for growth in beverages, confectionery and dairy mainly because of difficult market conditions and the impact of the Grandview incident.
Also within the Biobased Ingredients business, biochemicals had EBITDA excluding one-off items of €10.8 million, up from €9.8 million in the previous year’s second quarter, and net sales of €51 million, up from €43.3 million.
In its Biobased Innovations segment, Corbion sustained a loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, excluding one-off items, of €800,000, which compared with a loss of €3.3 million in the previous year’s second quarter. Net sales for the segment in the quarter were €3.4 million, up from €1.3 million, behind strong organic sales growth in bioplastics.
In the first six months of the fiscal year, Corbion companywide posted EBITDA excluding one-off items of €77.3 million, up from €51.9 million in the same time period of the previous fiscal year, EBITDA of €77.1 million, up from €49.1 million, and net sales of €452.3 million, up from €371 million.
