Givaudan sales beat market view on fine fragrance strength, boosting shares

Oct 13 (Reuters) - A surge in sales of scents for luxury perfumes and a continued recovery in flavours drove Givaudan’s organic sales growth clearly beyond market expectations in the third quarter, lifting its shares on Tuesday.

The fragrance and flavour maker was the top performer on Europe's benchmark STOXX 600 index as its shares rose nearly 7% following the quarterly update, which offers an early read on demand at the food and perfume makers it supplies.

The positive sales performance also boosted shares of industry peers dsm-firmenich, Symrise and Novonesis, which rose between 1.6% and 3.1% in early trading.

Givaudan's organic, or like-for-like, sales grew 8.6% in the quarter, comfortably beating a company-compiled consensus of 4.7%.

Like-for-like sales growth in its fragrance division accelerated to 13.5%, more than double analysts' average forecast, driven mainly by the fine fragrance unit, where Vontobel and Jefferies estimated organic sales rose about 31%.

"This acceleration should reinforce confidence in Givaudan’s growth profile and resilience," Vontobel analyst Arben Hasanaj said in a note to investors, adding that market estimates for 2026 were likely to move up on growth and margins helped by the high-margin perfumery business.

Givaudan's flavours division, which supplies food and drink companies, also beat analyst forecasts, though by a narrower margin, with like-for-like growth of 3.5% against a 2.8% consensus.

North America remained a weak spot, with flavours sales falling 3.3% organically in the first nine months of 2026, hit by weakness in its health and functional business and US tariff refunds paid to customers in the third quarter, Givaudan said.

CEO Christian Stammkoetter, who in August outlined a plan to lift up the Taste & Wellbeing division, including a review of its underperforming natural ingredients unit, said the business was showing sequentially improving performance in line with the company's expectations.

(Reporting by Rafal Nowak in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)