In the 2021 financial year, Novozymes delivers 6% organic sales growth – 7% organic sales growth in the fourth quarter alone – an EBIT-margin of 26.8%, and ROIC including goodwill of 19.3%.
For the full year, organic performance by business area were -1% in Household Care, 14% in Food, Beverages & Human Health, 11% in Bioenergy, 13% in Grain & Tech Processing, 0% in Agriculture, Animal Health & Nutrition.
Household Care was impacted by European trading conditions in the second half and a tough 2020 comparator. The Freshness platform and emerging markets contributed positively and according to expectations.
The strong performance in Food, Beverages & Human Health was supported by market conditions and the two Human Health-related acquisitions, PrecisionBiotics Group and Microbiome Labs.
Double-digit growth in Bioenergy was mainly due to the recovering US ethanol production and the expansion of starch-based ethanol production in Latin America. The strong performance in Grain & Tech Processing was led by recovery in textile and a strong demand for ag-processing solutions.
The performance in Agriculture, Animal Health & Nutrition was in line with the company’s expectations.
For 2021, organic growth rates by geography were 2% in Europe, Middle East & Africa, 3% in North America, 10% in Asia Pacific, and 31% in Latin America.
Sales in emerging markets grew 18% organically and developed markets grew 1% organically. The strong performance in emerging markets was broad based with all business areas growing by, or close to, double digits growth rates.
Novozymes expects an organic sales growth of 3-7% reflecting uncertainty related to the pandemic situation and volatile market conditions. Sales growth in Danish kroner is expected to be around 3 percentage point higher than the organic sales growth outlook of 3-7%. The year is expected to be off to a good start.
EBIT-margin is expected at 25%-26% including re-investments in the business and despite an impact from significantly higher input costs. ROIC incl. goodwill at 16%-17%. FCF bef. acq. at DKK 1.7-2.1bn including DKK 2.5-2.8bn in CAPEX supporting long-term growth, especially in advanced protein solutions. ■