Major international competitors such as BASF and Dow Chemical have announced job losses and production cuts to protect profits from shrinking demand.
However, no such measures were announced in Croda’s yearly financial results. This week the UK-based company reported an 18.8 per cent increase in sales to £956.4m.
This healthy growth rate was driven by a 28 per cent increase in consumer care sales to £442.4m.
Personal care drives growth
Under the consumer care umbrella lies Croda’s portfolio of cosmetic ingredients, which was cited as a strong driver for growth.
In a statement, Croda said “vanity and an ageing population” continued to feed growth, along with the rapid evolution of Latin American and Asian markets and increased demand for high quality natural ingredients.
There was no sign of a slowdown in the sector as the year came to an end. Helped by favourable currency trends, consumer care sales in the final quarter were up 46.6 per cent on last year.
Further down the income statement, profits also looked strong despite steeply rising raw material costs in the first half of the year. Pre-tax profit for 2008 rose 78 per cent to £98.4m.
Predictions for 2009
Turning to the year ahead, Croda expects resilient consumer care sales but warned that its industrial specialties business may suffer from exposure to weaker markets.
Chairman Martin Fowler said: “We have started 2009 in line with expectations. The broad trading trends of resilient consumer care demand, weaker industrial markets and favourable currency translation are continuing. We are confident of making further progress in the year ahead.”