Croda hails record full-year results

Croda International hailed record results on Tuesday as it posted a rise in full-year sales and profit but also cautioned that its 2023 performance will be more weighed to the second half than in the prior year.

In the year to the end of December 2022, statutory pre-tax profit rose 89.6% to £780m, including a gain on the PTIC business disposal of £356.0m. Adjusted pre-tax profit was 11% higher at £496.1m and sales pushed up 10.6% to £2.1bn.

Croda pointed to a strong performance in Asia, Western Europe and Latin America, with growth across consumer care and life sciences.

It also said adjusted operating profit increased 10% to £515.1m, exceeding £500m for the first time, with profit growth across all three sectors.

The company said its performance this year was set to be "more second half weighted than in the prior year" due to the divestment of the majority of PTIC in June 2022 and the phasing of lipid systems shipments to its principal Covid-19 vaccine customers.

Chief executive Steve Foots said: "2022 has been a milestone year for Croda as we continued our transition to a pure play consumer care and life sciences business, evolving our portfolio to be more closely aligned to the emerging megatrends driving our markets.

"For the first time, we delivered over £2 billion in sales and £500 million in adjusted operating profit, reflecting progress across all areas of our business. Consumer care is increasingly resilient, supported by encouraging growth in our F&F business, whilst life sciences has built on an exceptional prior year, with an exciting project pipeline in pharma and a stand-out performance in crop protection."

At 1120 GMT, the shares were down 4.4% at 6,626p.

Commenting on the fact that 2023 will be more second-half weighted, Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Investors hate hearing that phrase as it raises the chances of a profit warning if that six-month period doesn’t live up to expectations."