February 14, 2008

DSM reports 10 percent growth in Q4 sales

Dutch lifescience and material science company, Royal DSM, gained strong results for the fourth quarter, as its organic product sales increased by 10 percent.

The operating profit for 2007 of EUR823 million (US$1.2 billion) is in line with expectations, the company said.

Net profit before exceptional items of EUR558 million (US$813 million), is better than last year and earnings per share was 8 percent higher.

DSM has proposed a dividend of EUR1.20 (US$1.75) per ordinary share, up 20 percent.

Feike Sijbesma, chairman of the DSM Managing Board, said DSM is fully on track to meet the objectives set out in 2010 strategy. In 2008, the company will continue its transition towards a Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company.

Full-year sales for nutrition were 6 percent above last year. Compared to 2006, both Animal Nutrition & Health and Human Nutrition & Health in DSM Nutritional Products achieved solid volume growth and the negative price trend in the more mature part of the business was stopped and partly reversed by DSM's differentiation strategy.

Nevertheless, DSM Nutritional Products' operating profit decreased because higher organic growth did not fully compensate for the expiration of Roche contracts, higher energy and raw-material costs, higher innovation expenditure and negative exchange-rate effects.

DSM is a multinational chemicals company with headquarters at the Netherlands. The activities of DSM are now grouped into four clusters: nutrition, pharma, performance materials and industrial chemicals.