Cognis Sales Decreases but Forecasts are Up

Cognis, a supplier of nutritional ingredients, has reported total sales of €1.95bn for the first nine months of 2009, a decrease of 15% compared to €2.3bn for the same period in 2008.

Adjusted earnings before tax for the period was €270m, an increase of 2.1% compared to €264m in the same period of the last year.

The company announced a pre-tax profit of €35m, showing an increase of €21m compared to the same period in 2008, mainly due to lower interest expenses and foreign currency gains primarily on the US dollar borrowings.

Nutrition and health sales decreased by 6.8% to €247m due to the economic downturn and in particular in the dietary supplements market.

Cognis CEO Antonio Trius said the company’s innovative product portfolio proved to be highly resilient to the effects of the credit crisis.

”In the face of this year’s challenging economic environment, our wellness and sustainability-based strategy has proven itself as one of the strongest drivers of success for all our businesses,” Trius said.