Chemicals company Croda sees sales rise

Croda is a speciality chemicals producer.

The Snaith-based FTSE 100 firm said pre-tax profit on a reported basis dropped 2.5 per cent from £175m to £170.6m for the six months ended June 30, 2019. Sales were up from £642.2m to £657.9m.

Steve Foots, CEO of Croda, said: “We have delivered a resilient performance in challenging market conditions and against strong prior year comparatives, testament to Croda’s focused strategy.”

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Croda produces ingredients and technologies relied upon by industries and consumers globally. In the past it has supplied the likes of L’Oreal, Estee Lauder and Boots.

Mr Foots said: “Although personal care was significantly impacted by the US/China trade dispute and new sales legislation in China, we saw growth across the rest of the sector.

“An excellent performance in life sciences ensured overall progress in consumer markets, whilst performance technologies slowed in line with the wider industry, due to softer end markets in automotive and polymers.

“We have a strong pipeline, a robust business model and a strategy to leverage innovation, customer intimacy and sustainability.

“Life sciences is expected to show continued progress and in personal care we anticipate the US remaining subdued while Asia recovers progressively.

“Performance technologies is likely to remain softer until end markets improve.

“Based on the current challenging economic conditions remaining unchanged, overall we expect a slight improvement in performance in the second half of the year versus the prior year comparator.”