Health, Nutrition & Care
Performance 2023

In a challenging environment, HNC recorded 4% lower organic sales compared to the same prior year period with 6% lower volumes and 2% higher prices. Volumes were affected mainly by persistent destocking and softer consumer demand, while continued pricing was partially offset by low vitamin prices.

Sales in Dietary Supplements were impacted by pressure on consumer discretionary spend, especially in North America and lower demand for immunity-supporting solutions post-COVID. i-Health delivered solid results driven in particular by North America online sales and strong consumption growth in select global markets. Pharma was weak. Medical Nutrition experienced good market conditions and Biomedical performed very strongly.

Early Life Nutrition faced a high comparable period (due to product shortages in North America), further exacerbated by a continuing decline in birth rates (especially in China – the largest Early Life Nutrition market) and ongoing destocking.

dsm-firmenich’s innovative human-milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) saw strong interest from customers, especially for applications in new premium products. HNC received the first-ever approvals in China for two HMOs in October, clearing the way for a China launch in 2024, as well as delivering the first new products and concepts combining the strengths of the merged businesses.

The Adjusted EBITDA was down 27% year-on-year, with an estimated vitamin effect of roughly 20%, which resulted in a drop in Adjusted EBITDA margins by 490bps. Without this effect Adjusted EBITDA would have been down 7%.