By Alberto Chiumento
(Reuters) -European chemicals maker DSM-Firmenich said on Thursday it expected to post adjusted core profit of at least 2.4 billion euro ($2.5 billion) in 2025, after it reported annual results slightly above market expectations.
The group, born out of a 2023 merger of Netherlands-based DSM and Switzerland-based Firmenich, also said it intended to launch a share buyback in the second quarter of 2025 for an initial amount of 500 million euros, which would later be increased to up to 1 billion euros.
Its shares rose 4.6% to 105.7 euros at 0811 GMT, after being briefly halted from trading at market open.
“The core profit outlook for 2025 is constructive in our view,” Barclays analysts said in a note to clients, adding the buyback plan was the “key positive surprise” of the day.
The company reported adjusted core profit of 2.12 billion euros for 2024, just above analysts’ forecast of 2.11 billion euros in a consensus compiled by Vara Research.
“We delivered strongly improved financial results in all our businesses, benefitting from better business conditions,” CEO Dimitri de Vreeze said in a statement.
DSM-Firmenich, which supplies fragrances used in the perfumes of French luxury giants LVMH and Kering, also posted a 4% annual increase in its net sales to 12.80 billion euros.
The company’s results were supported by a 200 million euro adjusted core profit contribution from merger synergies and a transformation program of its vitamin activities, de Vreeze said.
The group, which had launched the vitamin restructuring program in mid-2023 to reduce costs and restore profitability of the business, expects this combined contribution to be at a similar level in 2025.
It proposed a dividend of 2.50 euros per share for the year, the same amount it had paid out in 2024.
($1 = 0.9584 euros)
(Reporting by Alberto Chiumento in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi and Kim Coghill)
