Flavour and fragrance ingredients group Treatt has hailed a 'great' first half to its current financial year, with a series of new business wins driving strong double-digit growth in sales and profits.
Bury St Edmunds-based Treatt said that revenues for the six months to March 31 grew by 27% compared with last year's first half, from £40.893m to £51.788m, with all of its key product categories performing well.
Operating profit was 59% higher, at £5.913m against £3.717m, and pre-tax profit rose by 63%, adjusted for exceptional items during last year's first half, to £5.493m from £3.379m, with the figures also helped by the impact on the value of overseas earnings from the fall in the value of the pound.
Group chief executive Daemmon Reeve said: 'These are a great set of half year numbers for which our staff all deserve huge credit.
'The quality and frequency of new business wins is gaining good momentum, and through the dedication and skill of our colleagues we are on course to meet our 2020 targets some three years ahead of schedule.'
Treatt, a member of the EADT/EDP Top 100 list of the 100 largest companies in Suffolk and Norfolk, supplies ingredients to food, beverage and consumer products manufacturers and has achieved strong growth in recent years through partnering with clients on the development of bespoke added-value products.
'By anticipating and working closely with our customers, we are increasingly leveraging our position as a key supplier to major global corporations,' said Mr Reeve. 'Our well-defined strategy will continue to focus on promoting long-term sustainable growth and with the investments planned in the UK and the US we will be able to build on these successes as we look towards the next exciting steps of our journey.
'New business wins and a strong performance across all our categories, particularly in Sugar Reduction, Tea and Citrus, which are areas of strategic focus, together with the impact of current foreign exchange rates have combined in an order book which has increased materially compared with the same time last year.'
Treatt added that it remains on course to relocate from its current base in Northern Way, Bury, to new premises on the edge of the town by the end of 2019.
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