French food specialist Naturex hopes to seal one or two acquisitions this year to boost growth and build up its cosmetic business. The company, which supplies natural extracts and ingredients used for colouring and flavouring in the food processing industry, expects to post double-digit growth when it unveils first-quarter sales on Monday, its Chief Executive told Reuters.
Naturex doubled its size last year after the purchase of the ingredients division of Spanish food group Natraceutical for an enterprise value of 93.4 million euros ($136 million). The company competes with Chr. Hansen of Denmark and Sensient of the United States and serves food giants, such as Nestle, Danone, Kraft Foods and Unilever. Jacques Dikansky said in an interview on Friday he wanted personal care products - which include natural extracts sold to cosmetics giants for use in moisturising creams and shampoos - to represent around 10 percent of sales between 2013 and 2015 compared with 1.2 percent in 2010.
Total sales last year reached 226.3 million euros ($329.8 million). Commenting on current external growth prospects, Dikansky said talks with a handful of potential take-over candidates were going well. Some of those potential acquisitions could expand Naturex's personal care and cosmetics business.