NEW YORK, Mar 29, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) --International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE: IFF), a leading global creator of flavors and fragrances for consumer products, today announced that improving business trends are driving better than anticipated financial results for the first quarter of 2010.
Local currency sales is trending to low double-digit growth, as all categories, including Fine Fragrance, are showing significant improvements versus the year-ago period. Trends in the emerging markets continue to be strong, particularly Greater Asia, where every category is experiencing double-digit growth. The effects on margin have been positive and as a result, adjusted quarterly EPS is expected to be near record levels.
"IFF continues to execute a successful strategy that enables us to generate strong financial results," said Doug Tough, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We are seeing a significant improvement in our business segments, including double-digit growth in the Fine Fragrance category. While we continue to see strong commercial performance relative to new customer business, a portion of this improvement can be attributed to favorable comparisons versus the year ago period as well as some elements of customer restocking."
The Company expects to webcast its first quarter 2010 earnings conference call with financial analysts and investors on Thursday, May 6, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. ET. The live webcast will be accessible through the Company's website at www.iff.com. A replay of the conference call will be archived and available online through the Investor Relations section of the site.
Mr. Tough added, "As we have realized some benefit of customer restocking, we continue to be mindful that this may well be an isolated event, as economic conditions remain fluid. As a result, we plan to monitor our performance as we look to make targeted investments to strengthen our marketplace position throughout the balance of the year."