Symrise reports “very solid performance”

According to the German flavour house, organic sales growth was “slightly below the targeted range of 3 to 4 %” due to a cybersecurity attack in December 2020, which temporarily caused significant disruptions to business operations. This one-time effect is reflected in the sales figures of Q4 with organic growth of 0.7 %. Meanwhile, production processes have been restored globally.

“Symrise maintained a very solid performance in a market environment impacted by the coronavirus pandemic,” says Dr Heinz-Jürgen Bertram, company CEO. “We were well on track until mid-December 2020 when we became the target of a criminal cybersecurity attack with blackmailing intent. Consequently, our business operations were at times severely restricted, and we were unable to achieve our growth targets fully. However, we follow a clear ethical compass and reject any form of criminal fraud or extortion.”

Taking negative currency translation effects of EUR 152 m (–4.5 %) into account, group sales in reporting currency amounted to EUR 3.521 bn, compared to EUR 3.408 bn in 2019. This represents an increase of 3.3 %. Symrise remains confident that it will achieve an Ebitda margin at the lower end of the guidance range of 21 to 22 % for the full year of 2020.