Symrise posts mixed FY2025 results, pet portfolio stable

Symrise’s Taste, Nutrition & Health Segment, which includes its pet food division, generated €3 billion ($3.3B) in revenue, down 2% year-over-year (YoY) for fiscal year (FY) 2025, ending 31 December 2025.

According to the German corporation, the revenue decline was due to portfolio changes and exchange rate effects, resulting in a total negative impact of €142.2 million ($156.4M).

Company CFO Olaf Klinger noted that the portfolio impact includes the divestment of its Aqua Feed business in early 2025 and the 51% divestment of Symrise’s UK beverage trading business in March 2024.

In Q4, the segment delivered organic growth of 2.5%, but revenue declined 3.7% YoY to €714.1 million ($785.5M).

Pet food division

Meanwhile, the group notes that sales in its pet food division remained “in line with the market and on par with the prior year,” supported by strategic price initiatives at the beginning of 2025 in the Pet Nutrition business unit. The group did not specify growth figures for the division.

According to CEO Jean-Yves Parisot, the nutrition sub-division registered mid-single-digit volume growth. Pet Palatability, on the other hand, achieved low single-digit organic sales growth.

“The prices in pet nutrition begin to normalize. We are out of the readjustment of the prices we did strategically in 2025. Now there will be selective price adjustments if necessary, and we will do that because our growth will be mainly driven by volume this year,” Parisot says.

Group performance

Company-wide revenue reached €4.9 billion ($5.4B) in FY2025, slipping 1.4% YoY. This decline was due to portfolio and exchange rate effects, which had an adverse impact of €210 million ($231.0M).

Organic sales growth for the full-year period stood at 2.8%, with the highest growth recorded in the Latin American region at 6.6%. Meanwhile, the Europe, Africa and the Middle East (EAME) region contributed the largest share of sales, totaling €2 billion ($2.2B).

Overall, reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) declined 11.6% to €913 million ($1B), while net income fell 47% YoY to €249.3 million ($274.2M).

In the fourth quarter, sales also declined 1.8% to €1.15 billion ($1.3B). Organic growth in the 3-month period was 3.6%, led by Latin America, which grew 7.2%. Sales were highest in EAME, which accounted for roughly 40% of total revenue.

FY2026 outlook

Symrise anticipates organic sales growth of 2%-4% for FY2026. Adjusted EBITDA margin is forecast to range between 21.5% and 22.5%, while adjusted business free cash flow margin is expected to exceed 14%.

The group notes that this guidance reflects current company initiatives, as well as the challenging global demand environment, geopolitical uncertainty and inflationary tariff impacts on end-consumer buying behavior.

“Our 2026 guidance is not only underpinned by the acceleration of our ONE SYM Transformation program but also supported by strong project vitality with key customers, a solid pipeline of new solutions and resilience in our core end markets,” the CEO says. The transformation program started in 2024, focused on implementing cost savings and efficiency gains.