Symrise, the fragrance and flavor ingredients giant, has acquired two high-end fragrance companies, R. Romani – Société Française d’Aromatiques (SFA Romani) and Neroli Invest DL (Groupe Neroli). It is shown in the financial report released by Symrise that in the 2021 fiscal year, its Scent &Care segment generated sales of $1.64 billion. Compared to the previous year, this represents an increase of 8.9%. Sales amounted to $9 million in the Asia-Pacific market including China, up 10.3% year-on-year.
Symrise, the fragrance and flavor ingredients giant, has recently submitted a series of offers to acquire two high-end fragrance companies, R. Romani – Société Française d’Aromatiques (SFA Romani) and Neroli Invest DL (Groupe Neroli). Two of them were based in Grasse, France. The two companies have combined annual sales of over $44.02 million. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022.
Through this transaction, Symrise is poised to strengthen its fine fragrance business in the South of France. It also is committed to enhancing its competitiveness in the creation of perfume ingredients and expand its presence in key countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
In fact, as early as last November, Symrise announced a joint venture with Groupe Neroli.
On November 2, 2021(Beijing Time), Symrise announced on its website that it would strengthen its presence in the natural flavors sector by establishing a joint venture with French family-owned Groupe Neroli in Grasse. Symrise will hold a majority stake in the joint venture.
The location of Grasse was chosen not only because of the unique climate and the abundance of flowers and trees in the region, but also because of its long history of flavouring and the long-standing presence of Symrise in Grasse. Symrise will contribute its expertise in natural ingredients such as Madagascar vanilla to the new company. Groupe Neroli, a local producer of daily fragrances and flavors, will contribute more than 35 years of experience and will realize its plans to expand its business in the cultivation and processing of aromatic plants through the new company.
It is shown in the financial report released by Symrise that in the 2021 fiscal year, its Scent &Care segment generated sales of $1.64 billion. Compared to the previous year, this represents an increase of 8.9%. Excluding portfolio and currency translation effects, organic sales growth amounted to 7.9%. Sales amounted to $9 million in the Asia-Pacific market including China, up 10.3% year-on-year.
It is worth noting that on May 18, 2020, Symrise announced on its official website that the company opened its biggest individual investment and invested $55 million in the construction of a new production site for flavorings and fragrances in Nantong, China. CEO Dr. Heinz-Jürgen Bertram on the strategic approach comments that “the celebratory and partially virtual opening of our plant in Nantong demonstrates our trust in the Chinese market, and we are consciously committing ourselves to the world’s strongest growth region.”
Symrise also stated that Asia remains the center of growth for the global economy. the expansion of the production of fragrances and flavorings in the rapidly expanding Chinese market makes sense, because the world’s second-largest economy has great potential to soon become number one. This development correlates with the history of Symrise in the country. In the past ten years, the company has grown around eight percent per year on average. With a six-percent share of total sales, China follows the USA and Germany as the third-strongest revenue-generating market for Symrise.
However, in the Chinese consumer market, customers who still don’t have the habit of using fragrance, the fragrance sector will gradually penetrate the cultivation of consumption of fragrance. Yao Wenzhong, vice president of northeast Asia of Symrise Shanghai Co., Ltd. said: “Unlike the uncertain future of perfume categories, home fragrance, especially the prospect of fireless aromatherapy is better.” He explained: “the frequency of domestic consumers using perfume is low. But the aromatherapy itself has the characteristics of easy volatility and belongs to the natural consumables. Once consumers start to use it, it is easy to form a habit and they will have a tendency to repurchase it. The consumer stickiness is relatively strong.
According to Mintel, global sales of scented candles in 2020 reached $9.2 billion with a continuous rising. In 2021, the fragrance industry exceeds the turnover of last-year’s full day in 10 hours during Double 11(Chinese Shopping Carnival) on Tmall(a Chinese e-commerce platform). In its detailed sectors, fragrance sales increased by 100% year-on-year on the first day, and car fragrance grew of 60%. The market is expected to reach 15.439 billion yuan in sales in 2.42 billion.
