Symrise heads for worst day in 18 years on growth, margin woes 

(Corrects headline to say worst day in 18 years not eight years)

By Jesus Calero

Oct 28 (Reuters) - Symrise shares plunged as much as 12% on Wednesday after the German flavor and fragrance maker flagged slower year-end growth and margin pressure.

The group maintained its full-year guidance but specified its forecast, to account for spending on IT, innovation and people.

It now expects organic growth near the midpoint of the earlier guided range, or roughly 3%, against a Vara Research consensus of 3.2%, and sees its adjusted core profit (EBITDA) margin in the lower half of the 21.5%-22.5% range.

The selloff came despite Symrise delivering stronger sales volumes and a modest quarterly growth beat.

The group's third-quarter organic sales grew 5.3%, above the 5.0% expected in the Vara poll, as higher volumes outweighed lower prices.

Natural ingredients and sweet and savoury flavors supported the food business, while beverage sales declined.

Pet food returned to growth on higher volumes, although Bernstein said the rebound looked softer than investors had likely hoped.

Analysts noted investors' concerns over a softer year-end, adding that strong updates from other ingredients makers and consumer goods companies had likely raised expectations.

Earlier this month, Swiss rival Givaudan posted better-than-expected organic sales growth of 8.6% in the third quarter, helped by strong fragrance demand and a recovery in food flavors.

Today's losses put Symrise shares on track for their worst day since 2008, and wiped €1.4 billion ($1.56 billion) off the company's market cap.

($1 = 0.8993 euros)

(Reporting by Jesus Calero in Gdansk, editing by Izabela Niemiec)