As the name behind some of the world’s most successful brands, we combine our knowledge, passion and entrepreneurial spirit to develop and supply innovative ingredients relied on by industries and consumers around the world. Our Purpose, Smart science to improve lives™, underpins our approach and guides what we do.
We typically sell innovative ingredients to product manufacturers, in the consumer care, agrochemical, or pharmaceutical sectors. Our ingredients provide vital functionality at low inclusion levels, ensuring efficacy or helping to differentiate customers’ products, with consumers benefitting through the application of those products.
The solutions we provide
Consumer Care
We develop innovative and sustainable ingredients that provide vital functionality to consumer care formulations, enabling customers to differentiate their products, build strong brands, meet their sustainability commitments and satisfy changing consumer requirements. For example, we extract wrinkle-reducing actives from plants that are critical ingredients in anti-ageing skin creams.
Life Sciences — Agriculture
We are an innovation partner to major crop science companies and an increasing number of smaller customers, developing delivery systems to meet the sustainability challenges of current-generation products and to enable next generation solutions. For example, our technologies ensure crop care formulations are biodegradable in the soil.
Life Sciences — Pharma
We develop components and systems for the delivery of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), supporting customers across the whole lifecycle of a drug – from early-stage research to commercial manufacture. For example, our ingredients encapsulate the mRNA used in vaccines allowing it to be transported into human cells.
Value creation from discovery to supply
Our Purpose
Our Purpose, Smart science to improve lives™, remains constant and is embedded throughout our company. It guides how we operate and aligns our efforts to deliver positive impact for stakeholders.
Governed by our Board
Our Board of Directors oversees both financial and non-financial performance, with robust governance processes in place and regular engagement from the Board on our culture and Purpose. In 2023, the Board created a Sustainability Oversight Committee to guide the sustainability strategy development and execution, providing greater oversight and challenge.
Delivered through our strategy
Our strategy aims to create value by combining sustainability and innovation. By helping our customers to differentiate their products and meet their own ambitious sustainability goals, we deliver growth in our own business while creating positive impacts for planet and society. In this sense, our approach to growth supports our Purpose and desire to deliver positive impact.
Reflected in our remuneration
Remuneration policies have included sustainability-related targets alongside financial and innovation-based targets in long-term incentive plans for over four years. In 2022, our annual bonus scheme was revised to include sustainability-related targets. Our Remuneration Policy therefore aligns with our Purpose, incentivising the use of Smart science to improve lives™, not just to drive financial performance.
Integrated into our risk and opportunities framework
Risks and opportunities are identified, monitored, and managed both centrally and locally. This approach engages the entire business in considering risks and opportunities that arise from emerging sustainability and societal challenges. Our risk appetite is guided by our Purpose and we are willing to accept more risk where doing so is integral to delivering our Purpose.
Reasons to invest in Croda
Strong fundamentals
A purpose-led business delivering positive impact
By developing and supplying ingredients that are included at low inclusion levels but are vital to the functionality and claims of our customers’ products, we can have an outsized positive impact, applying our Smart science to improve lives™.
We partner and create value across the full development lifecycle
Direct selling supports customer intimacy, with customer insight informing innovation priorities. We partner with customers, academia and SMEs to develop ingredients that address global challenges and build strong relationships in the process.
Our high-performance and innovation focused culture is unique
As a people-based business our culture is pivotal to our success and our unique values-based culture transcends our global operations.
A proven strategic direction
At the forefront to capture growth opportunities presented by megatrends
Long-term technology trends such as the demand for sustainable ingredients and the move to biologics are presenting significant opportunities for growth. We have aligned our portfolio with these megatrends, enabling us to help address some of the world’s biggest challenges.
A strategy built on sustainability and innovation
Our strategy builds on our heritage of producing innovative ingredients from natural raw materials, combining sustainability and innovation to deliver growth.
Focused on operational delivery
We are optimising performance in a challenging environment while simplifying our structure, processes and ways of working to support future growth. By continually improving customer service and efficiency, and focusing on operational delivery we will leverage the power of our strong foundations.
Driving efficiency across the Group
We are controlling what we can control, optimising performance in a challenging market environment through short-term cost measures and site optimisation. These are alongside longer-term operational improvements such as our ‘doing the basics brilliantly’ programme, which is improving our processes and ways of working, benefitting the customer experience.
An organisational structure that leverages our strengths
Our new organisational structure, introduced in January 2024, aligns the accountability for strategy and performance, creating greater ownership and improving agility and customer responsiveness.
Continuing to invest in future growth
Despite short-term pressures we continue to invest in future growth, matching our customers’ appetite for innovation through targeted investment in R&D and manufacturing, with continued capital discipline.
Delivering long-term performance
Our strong track record of growth over many decades and high cash conversion have enabled us to grow the dividend for more than 30 years. With our growth strategy supported by structural trends and conservative leverage, we are well positioned to deliver continued out-performance.
A long-term track record
Our successful business model has enabled us to pay a growing dividend for more than 30 years. Increasing shareholder returns have been delivered alongside strong non-financial performance.
Consistent capital allocation in line with a clear policy
A clear capital allocation policy guides our investment decisions with a preference for organic capital investment, complemented by technology-led ‘bolt-on’ acquisitions, which has delivered attractive long-term growth.
Retained a strong financial position despite market headwinds
Despite market headwinds and a weaker performance in 2023, our cash generative business model and disciplined approach mean we have retained a strong balance sheet and the headroom to invest.
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