Corbion N.V. — Earnings Release 2009

Apr 21, 2009

CSM nv Corporate Communications

P.O. Box 349 1000 AH Amsterdam The Netherlands

Nienoord 13 1112 XE Diemen

T +31 (0)20 590 62 16 F +31 (0)20 590 62 17 E communications@csm.nl

Press Release

CSM TRADING UPDATE FIRST QUARTER 2009

Diemen (The Netherlands), April 21, 2009 – CSM, the world's leading Bakery Supplies and Lactic Acid business, reports a sales growth of 2.9% for Q1 2009. EBITA of €20.1 million in Q1 was impacted by a decline in volumes of 4.2%, a consequence of the current negative economic climate. Continuing actions to reduce cost and working capital will provide increasing support to results in the remainder of the year.

Headlines:

• Sales were €636.1 million compared to €618.2 million in Q1 2008. Currency effects on balance had a positive impact of €32.7 million, due to the stronger US dollar mitigated by the weaker pound sterling. Autonomous sales growth was 2.8% negative, caused by lower sales volumes.
• Volumes in Bakery Supplies were 3.8% lower than in Q1 2008. Sales were lower in all segments of the business, with the more luxury pastry items particularly affected.
• PURAC's volumes were down 10.4% compared with Q1 2008. Approximately 75% of this decline occurred in the potassium-based products, following the supply interruption in the 2nd half of last year. We have been regaining some of the potassium-based business through the first quarter.
• EBITA was €20.1 million compared with €32.5 million Q1 2008 (at constant currency €17.9 million vs €32.5 million).
• EBITA was negatively impacted by our decision to reduce finished goods inventories, which fell by €23.8 million. We estimate the negative impact to EBITA to be approximately €6 million.
• Pressure to reduce selling prices at Bakery Supplies led to slightly lower pricing and expensive forward raw material contracts had to be absorbed in Q1 2009. This led to a decrease in return on sales, in an order of magnitude of 1 percentage point, compared with the last quarter of 2008.
• US-based bakery organization Brill exceeded expectations, profiting from increased efficiencies, and our German bakery business succeeded in maintaining volumes despite the difficult economic conditions.

Commenting on the first quarter results, Gerard Hoetmer, CEO of CSM, said:

"In our annual year results statement we said to expect the economic climate to remain unchanged compared with the fourth quarter of 2008. This became a reality and impacted CSM with lower volumes in the first quarter.

The initiatives taken over the last years to strengthen our organization in R&D, customer intimacy and marketing are helping to limit the effects of the economic crisis and allowing us to increase share in specific markets. Customers are choosing reliable partners to support them in creating organic growth and as a result we are winning new business. The reorganizations at Brill and in our German business are proving to be successful; the operational improvements at Brill are having substantial impact.

Our short term responses to mitigate the effects of the economic crisis have allowed us to reduce costs in line with our plan to save €25 million in 2009. We have taken actions that show immediate effect, such as reductions of FTE's, limiting salary costs, and scrutinizing all expenses. Restructurings to a structurally lower cost base are ongoing, as evidenced by the announced reorganizations in the UK and Belgium, the restructuring of the PURAC supply chain and continuing procurement savings.

With our focus on generating cash we have aggressively reduced inventories, accepting a negative impact on EBITA in the first quarter, and have temporarily closed down a number of production lines.

We believe our business compares favourably with last year, keeping in mind that the effects of the recession became visible only from the second quarter of 2008, making the year-on-year comparison for the first quarter challenging. We see positive underlying trends in market share, cost levels and raw material costs, even though there is price pressure in various customer channels. We have a good pipeline of innovations and customer projects in all our businesses and, although recognizing that our potential customer base is also confronted with the harsh economic climate, we continue to be very excited about the development of our bioplastics proposition at PURAC.

We do not see an improvement in the economic climate yet but we do expect our measures to have an increasing effect through the second quarter, bringing EBITA of the second quarter closer to that of last year's second quarter."

Sales

CSM
Sales millions of euros	Q1 2009	Q1 2008
BSNA US\$	391.8	407.5
BSNA €	301.0	272.6
BSEU	249.2	264.6
Total Bakery Supplies	550.2	537.2
PURAC	85.9	81.0
Total CSM	636.1	618.2

The autonomous sales growth for Q1 was 2.8% negative, caused by a volume decline of 4.2% and partly compensated by price and mix improvements.

Bakery Supplies North America showed an autonomous growth of 2.8% negative, caused by a volume decline of 2.9%. Lower volumes were seen in most categories and are the result of lower economic activity.

Bakery Supplies Europe showed an autonomous growth of 3.8% negative, as result of lower volumes of 3.7%. The weaker pound sterling impacted sales negatively. The lower sales were felt in most segments of the business, with an emphasis on the more luxury pastry items.

PURAC showed an autonomous growth of 0.2%. Price improvements compensated for a sales volume decline of 10.4%. Of the volume decline 7.8 percentage points was due to lower sales in potassium-based products, resulting from the supply interruption in Q4 of 2008 as a result of a strike at potassium mines. The other volume declines were especially at our more cyclical customers in the semiconductor and chemical industries. The stronger US dollar positively impacted sales.

EBITA

CSM
EBITA millions of euros	Before exceptionals Q1 2009	Before exceptionals Q1 2008	After exceptionals Q1 2009	After exceptionals Q1 2008
BSNA US\$	21.1	20.2	21.1	23.4
BSNA €	16.2	13.5	16.2	15.6
BSEU	6.3	12.8	6.3	1.9
Total Bakery
Supplies	22.5	26.3	22.5	17.5
PURAC	3.5	10.0	3.5	10.0
Holding	-5.9	-3.8	-5.9	-3.8
Total CSM	20.1	32.5	20.1	23.7

On a constant currency basis EBITA for Q1 would have been €17.9 million, a decline of €14.6 million compared with Q1 2008.

Bakery Supplies North America performed better than last year, the Q1 EBITA was US\$0.9 million up, or 4.5%. The effect of the lower volumes was more than compensated by a recovery in our margins, cost savings and an improved performance of our company HC Brill. The effects of the reorganization are showing results in lower waste and higher efficiencies at production.

Bakery Supplies Europe was faced with a very slow start to the quarter, with the month of March recovering some lost ground. The later Easter of this year is one of the reasons for this pattern. Cost reductions were a positive factor, but could not compensate for the lower volumes and higher raw material costs. EBITA was negatively impacted as we had to absorb our forward raw material contracts at higher than Q1 market prices. Our current contract position will show a minimal impact in the second quarter. The reorganization of our German operation is starting to show effect. Compared with our other European activities, the volume development was much better, being more or less at the level of last year and costs savings are coming in.

In Bakery Supplies we reduced our finished goods inventories by €8.8 million in order to free up cash.

PURAC's EBITA decline was the result of lower volumes sold and our focus on bringing down inventory. The €15 million reduction in finished goods inventories and the 10.4% volume decline resulting in underutilization of our factories and as a consequence low fixed cost coverage. Various production lines have been closed temporarily in the first quarter and we will continue this in the coming quarter. The production reorganization of 2008 is showing the positive effects anticipated. The impact of the stronger US dollar on our EBITA was negligible as our US dollar currency hedges were still at levels comparable with Q1 of last year.

Holding costs are higher, mainly as a result of higher pension and consultancy costs.

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There will be a conference call for investors and analysts at 11 o'clock CET when the management board will be available to respond to questions.

Dial-in details Conference call title: Q1 Interim Management Information Participants code: 3939026 Telephone numbers: The Netherlands +31 20 794 8507 United Kingdom +44 207 190 1492

For more information, please contact:

Press: Sonya Richardson, Director Communications, tel. +31 (0)20 5906320 / mobile +31 (6) 5241 1841 Analysts: Ian Blackford, Investor Relations Manager, tel. +31 (0)20 5906349 / mobile +44 (0)7767 227506

Background information:

CSM is the largest supplier of bakery products worldwide and is global market leader in lactic acid and lactic acid derivatives. CSM produces and distributes an extensive range of bakery products and ingredients for artisan and industrial bakeries and for in-store as well as out-of-home markets. It also

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produces a variety of lactic acid applications for the food, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. CSM operates in business-to-business markets throughout Europe, North America, South America, and Asia, generates annual sales of € 2.6 billion and has a workforce of around 8,450 employees in 25 countries. CSM is listed on Euronext Amsterdam. For more information: www.csm.nl.