Croda International Regulatory News (CRDA)

Press Release 

16 October 2025

Third quarter 2025 sales update

Group sales up 6.5%; delivering on plan to grow earnings and improve returns

Croda International Plc ("Croda" or the "Group") today provides an update on its sales performance in the third quarter of 2025 (the three months ended 30 September 2025).

Group performance

Q3 sales increased to £424.7m, up 4.4% on a reported basis versus the prior year and up 6.5% in constant currency. As anticipated, customer demand in Q3 was similar to Q2, with sequential sales ahead in a more challenging market environment. Sales growth was driven by an improvement in Beauty Actives, continued double-digit sales growth in F&F and further recovery in Crop Protection.

We have continued to optimise utilisation at our shared production sites through targeted sales of ingredients in Beauty Care, Crop Protection and Industrial Specialties as part of the actions we have been taking since 2024 to increase operating margins. Alongside innovation-led growth in Actives and further strength in F&F, this resulted in another quarter of low double-digit sales volume increases compared with the same period last year. As a result of these actions, mix continued to be negative year-on-year due to both product and business mix. Like-for-like prices remained largely consistent with the prior year.

We are implementing the actions required to realise £25m of cost savings this year and are delivering on our transformation plan to improve earnings and returns. To grow sales we are:

1. Maximising returns from our portfolio, following a period of peak investment

2. Leveraging our proximity to local and regional (L&R) customers

3. Stepping up innovation to meet renewed demand from customers of all sizes and to drive margin recovery we are:

4. Optimising capacity across our production and distribution networks

5. Realigning costs, and simplifying and modernising Croda through a multi-year operational efficiency programme

The progress we are making to enhance our operational efficiency underpins our confidence in being able to deliver annualised cost savings of £100m by end of 2027, contributing to margin recovery.

We expect the more challenging trading environment and low order book visibility to continue for the remainder of the year. In line with previous years, absolute sales in Q4 are likely to be seasonally lower than in the first three quarters as customers typically manage their working capital into the year end. Despite this, the combination of good year-to-date sales growth and delivery of anticipated cost savings means that our full year 2025 outlook is unchanged. We continue to expect to deliver £265m to £295m Group adjusted profit before tax at constant currency1.

Foreign exchange

Constant currency1 expectations are based on the Group's average exchange rates through 2024. H125 adjusted operating profit was adversely impacted by £4.8m due to currency translation and we anticipate a further adverse impact in the second half of the year.

In addition, the Group's underlying performance is exposed to transactional currency exposures which we seek to mitigate through currency hedging, pricing and optimising our supply chains. H125 adjusted operating profit was adversely impacted by £6.7m from transactional exposures and we expect a small adverse impact in H225.

Regional performance

The imposition of US trade tariffs has contributed to volatility in quarterly performance by region, adversely impacting customers' export sales in certain regions, particularly in pharma and industrial markets in Asia, and in agriculture markets in Latin America.

Business performance

Consumer Care

Sales in Consumer Care were up 6% on a reported basis and 8% on a constant currency basis. Year-on-year sales growth in Beauty Actives improved to 12% at constant currency principally driven by stronger sales in North America. Sales grew 5% in Beauty Care supported by deliberate action to optimise plant utilisation in certain parts of the portfolio. F&F continued to deliver double-digit percentage sales growth driven by strong demand for Parfex's premium fragrances and for Flavours. Sales were lower in Home Care, the smallest business unit in Consumer Care, due to volatility in demand in the quarter.

Life Sciences

Reported sales in Life Sciences were up 4%, or by 6% at constant currency. Pharma sales were flat at constant currency with higher sales of pharmaceutical ingredients such as excipients (which represent most of our portfolio), offset by lower lipid and adjuvant sales as the US regulatory environment creates uncertainty for customers. Crop Protection sales were up 19% at constant currency driven by continued recovery in demand from larger crop science customers following an extended period of destocking, aided by our proactive actions. Sales were flat at constant currency in Seed Enhancement, a business which experiences some fluctuations in quarterly demand due to the seasonality of agriculture markets.

Industrial Specialties

Reported sales in Industrial Specialties fell by 1% and were up 1% at constant currency.

Quarterly sales performance

Further information

Croda is hosting a conference call for analysts and investors at 8.00am BST this morning. Please register in advance at: www.croda.com/investors.

Croda will report full year 2025 results on 24 February 2026.

1Technical foreign exchange guidance

Currency translation impact. Constant currency expectations are based on the Group's average exchange rates through 2024 which were US$1.28 and €1.18. The US Dollar and the Euro represent approximately 65% of the Group's currency translation exposure. We estimate that the average annual currency translation impact on adjusted operating profit is £1m per Dollar cent movement per annum and £1m per Euro cent movement per annum. The impact from movements in smaller currencies is broadly aligned with the impact from movements in the US Dollar.

H125 adjusted operating profit was adversely impacted by £4.8m and adjusted profit before tax was adversely impacted by £4.5m due to strengthening Sterling. Assuming 1 July 2025 exchange rates for the remainder of the year, we estimate translation would have a further £5m adverse impact on Group adjusted profit before tax in the second half of the year.

Transactional currency impact. In addition, the Group's underlying performance is exposed to transactional currency exposures which we seek to mitigate through currency hedging, pricing and optimising our supply chains. With the strength of Sterling, H125 adjusted operating profit was adversely impacted by £6.7m (H124: £1.2m) from transactional exposures and we expect a £2-3m adverse impact in H225.

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