Croda International PLC on Wednesday said it has made an encouraging start to the year with good sales growth and profit in line with expectations.
The Yorkshire-based speciality chemicals maker said sales rose 8.1% to £442 million in the first quarter of 2025 from £409 million a year prior, or by 9% at constant currency.
‘Good sales growth was driven by higher sales volumes with the price/mix headwinds we saw in 2024 starting to diminish,’ the company said in a statement.
Analysts at Jefferies said sales were 5.7% higher than Visible Alpha market consensus of £418 million.
Overall, adjusted pretax profit in the first quarter was in line with company expectations, Croda said.
As a result, the company expects to deliver £265 million to £295 million group in adjusted pretax profit at constant currency in all of 2025, compared to £279.7 million in 2024.
This is despite a political and economic environment which has become ‘less predictable,’ it added.
In response, shares in Croda jumped 8.6% to 2,957.33 pence in London on Wednesday morning.
By division, revenue in Consumer Care rose 8%, in Life Sciences by 10% and in Industrial Specialties by 6%.
Croda said it is assessing the likely impact of trade tariffs and said it will apply a tariff surcharge to cover any associated incremental costs.
Croda will report half-year results on July 29.
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