Chr. Hansen Holding — Earnings Release 2017

Apr 6, 2017

Hoersholm, 2017-04-06 08:00 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Company announcement no.06/2017

YTD 2016/17 IN BRIEF

Strong organic revenue growth of 10% delivered in the first half of 2016/17:
Food Cultures & Enzymes 9%, Health & Nutrition 10% and Natural Colors 11%. EBIT
before special items has increased by 15% to EUR 136 million. In Q2, organic
growth reached 9% and EBIT before special items increased by 10% to EUR 70
million.

EUR million Q2 Q2 Growth YTD YTD Growth
2016/1 2015/1 2016/1 2015/1
7 6 7 6
--------

                             --------                --------

Revenue 259.4 228.9 13% 501.1 443.3 13%
-------- --------
EBIT before special items 70.1 63.9 10% 135.6 117.9 15%
-------- --------
Profit for the period 50.9 37.4 36% 97.9 76.3 28%
-------- --------
Free cash flow before 48.8 32.5 51% 29.8 15.9 88%
acquisitions, divestments and
special items
-------- --------

                             --------                --------

Organic growth, % 9% 12% 10% 13%
-------- --------
Gross margin, % 53.7% 52.7% 53.5% 52.5%
-------- --------
EBIT margin before special 27.0% 27.9% 27.1% 26.6%
items, %
-------- --------
ROIC excl. goodwill, % 34.1% 36.0% 35.2% 34.3%
-------- --------

“With a solid performance in the first half of 2016/17, we are well positioned
to deliver on our ambitions for the year. Both Food Cultures & Enzymes and
Natural Colors delivered strong organic growth and improved profitability. In
Food Cultures & Enzymes, the improvement in profitability was despite the
financial impact from a management change in Q2. With 13% organic growth in Q2,
Health & Nutrition is now delivering growth in line with our long-term
ambitions for this business area. However, the EBIT margin in Health &
Nutrition is still below the level of last year, partly due to continued
investments in R&D,” says CEO Cees de Jong.

“We are pleased with the progress of our long term growth initiatives and
especially with the continued strong growth and momentum in bioprotection, the
further penetration and development of plant health solutions and technological
progress in the human microbiome. NPC has now been fully integrated, and the
integration of LGG® is on plan. Finally, it is encouraging to see the skilled
and timely execution of the capacity expansion for dairy cultures in
Copenhagen.”

OUTLOOK FOR 2016/17

The outlook for 2016/17 is unchanged compared to the announcement of 11 January
2017.

Organic revenue growth: 8-10% (previously 8-10%)

EBIT margin before special items: slightly increasing (previously slightly
increasing)

Free cash flow before acquisitions, divestments and special items: around EUR
175 million (previously around EUR 175 million)

For further information, please contact:

Anders Mohr Christensen, Senior Director, Investor Relations
Tel: +45 4574 7618

Camilla Lercke, Head of Media Relation

Tlf:+45 5339 2384

Forward-looking statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. Such statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties, as various factors, many of which are
beyond the control of Chr. Hansen Holding A/S, may cause actual developments
and results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in this
announcement.

About Chr. Hansen

Chr. Hansen is a global bioscience company that develops natural ingredient
solutions for the food, nutritional, pharmaceutical and agricultural
industries. The products include cultures, enzymes, probiotics and natural
colors, and all solutions are based on strong research and development
competencies coupled with significant technology investments. Revenue in the
2015/16 financial year was EUR 949 million. The company has more than 2,700
dedicated employees in 30 countries and main production facilities in Denmark,
France, USA and Germany. Chr. Hansen was founded in 1874 and is listed on
Nasdaq Copenhagen A/S. For further information, please visit
www.chr-hansen.com.