Global Consumer Chemicals & Ingredients "1Q26 learnings and the watch list..."

Research evidence excerpt

Global Consumer Chemicals & Ingredients "1Q26 learnings and the watch list..."

Global Research

22 May 2026ab

Global Consumer Chemicals & Ingredients Equities

Europe Ex. UK1Q26 learnings and the watch list for Q2

Chemicals

Charles Eden, ACA

The latest UBS view and most actionable ideas summarised Analyst

The Ingredients sector currently trades at an average of 11.8x / 10.7x 2026E / 2027E EV/ charles.eden@ubs.com

EBITDA and 17.8x / 16.0x 2026E / 2027E P/E, only modestly (<10%) above the 10-year +44-20-7568 9622

lows. Current valuations are certainly bringing the eyes of generalist investors back to Priyanka Patel

the sector, but thus far there appears to be minimal appetite to add additional Analyst

Ingredients exposure to portfolios, with the opportunity cost of owning the sector priyanka.patel@ubs.com

viewed as too high in light of opportunities elsewhere in the market. Sector volumes +44-20-7568 0016

appear to have plateaued in recent quarters (broadly flat, on average, for the last three Joshua Spector, CFA

quarters) and the combination of easing comps in 2H26 and the contribution from Analyst

pricing to offset inflation should see organic sales growth (OSG) accelerate in the joshua.spector@ubs.com

coming quarters; the key metric determining sector valuation multiples. Our revised +1-212-713 6188

most preferred names (in order of preference) are: 1) Symrise (continued improvement Christian Bell, CFA

in OSG through 2026 at an attractive valuation relative to history), 2) Croda (where we Analyst

expect continued OSG momentum and EBIT margin recovery through 2026 and 2027); christian.bell@ubs.com

and 3) Novonesis (where its best-in-class OSG trajectory and exposure to attractive +44-20-7901 5493