Dutch ingredients group DSM has seen third-quarter earnings drop by almost one-quarter,despite what it described as a"strong"performance from its nutrition business.
EBITDA dropped 23%to EUR270m(US$346m)in the three months to end-September,the company revealed in a filing yesterday(6 November).
Total sales fell 1%to EUR2.3bn.However,excluding currency exchange,organic sales fell by a total of 7%.
DSM emphasised the group's polymer ingredients arm weighed on the result,while its nutrition business offered a comparatively robust performance.Nutrition accounted for 76%of third-quarter EBITDA,the company said.
Feike Sijbesma,CEO and chairman,said that the result came"despite a challenging global trading environment"and was"mainly driven by our nutrition cluster".
DSM is focused on growing its nutrition business through acquisitions,including the recent purchase of Tortuga and Cargill's cultures and enzymes business.
Sijbesma said:"We have now invested EUR2.3bn in acquisitions since the end of 2010,of which EUR1.9bn in nutrition.With these acquisitions we are building new platforms and are strengthening our downstream network.This will create significant future value for the company whilst further increasing the resilience of DSM's earnings profile."
