Novozymes reports strong growth in bioenergy sales

Novozymes has released financial results for the first half of the year, reporting that sales growth was in line with expectations. Organically, sales grew by 8 percent. EBIT grew by 19 percent and EBIT margin increased by 3.5 percent reaching 28.1 percent.

“It’s been a good first half for Novozymes. Sales growth was in line with expectations and earnings were strong. For the full year, we maintain our outlook for sales growth, and profit is now expected to come in a little better than what we thought back in April. Looking beyond the financial performance, we’ve seen good progress in our innovation pipeline and portfolio of growth platforms in the first half of the year. In the second half, we'll continue to concentrate our efforts on advancing both to further strengthen our ability to deliver double-digit sales growth,” said Peder Nolk Nielsen, president and CEO of Novozymes.

Total sales for the first half of the year were DKK 6.094 billion ($1.094 billion), a 4 percent increase compared to the first half of 2013. According to Novozymes, sales to the bioenergy industry were the most significant contributor to sales growth, with a 20 percent increase. The bioenergy sector amounted for approximately 17 percent of Novozymes’ sales during the first half of the year. According to the company, approximately one-third of U.S. ethanol is not produced with one or more of its yield discovery solutions, such as Avantec, Spirizyme, Achieve and Olexa.

Novozymes reported a gross profit increase of 4 percent for the first half of the year. The gross margin was 57.8 percent, up 0.1 percent from the same period of the prior year. Net profit for the six-month period increased by 20 percent, reaching DKK 1.285 million, up from DKK 1.07 billion during the first half of 2013.