CONSUMER INGREDIENTS : Food for thought: Q126 earnings wrap

Research evidence excerpt

CONSUMER INGREDIENTS : Food for thought: Q126 earnings wrap

EQUITIES

CONSUMER INGREDIENTS

Food for thought: Q126 earnings wrap

Roundtripping: Q1s better than feared, shares not much better off12 MAY 2026

Sector Research Report Q1 topline came in better than feared across the board. Sector average organic growth of 4.6% was

Production time: 05:17* (London time) ~140bps better than consensus. Shares rallied in relief, taking us back to share price levels prior to

Research Analysts & Publishing Entities the start of Middle East conflict. The Ingredients sector has now returned to a ~5% premium to Food

Nicola Tang, CFA & HPC, up from -6% at the start of the year but still below average levels of 10% (40% at the peak).

BNP Paribas London Branch

(+44) 203 430 8490

nicola.tang@uk.bnpparibas.com Minimal disruption from the Middle East conflict for now

Companies have generally seen limited direct impact from the Middle East conflict, although flagged

Joan Lim increasing freight, logistics and packaging costs which they have started to passthrough to customers

+(44) 207 039 9410 via surcharges. We expect to see some choppiness in fine fragrance growth in the region in Q2.

joan.lim@uk.bnpparibas.com

A bit of pre-buying seems inevitable, more so in HPC vs food & bev end markets

Only dsm-firmenich, Croda and Symrise (to a lesser extent) acknowledged that some of the strength

in Q1 and/or Q2 order books may include pre-buying. Our view is this will be more relevant in HPC

vs food markets given higher exposure to petrochemical derived raw materials. That said, safety

stocks are unlikely to reverse near term (and certainly would be far less pronounced compared to

the post COVID stocking cycle).

Inflation remains top of mind for investors