FTSE250 chemical company adapts to challenging conditions

CHEMICAL company Croda International has had a year of progress, and chief executive Steve Foots said that despite challenging conditions, the company was adapting.

For the year to 31 December 2015, the company made £1.08bn in revenues, up from £1.05bn in 2014.

Total reported pre-tax profits increased to £252.3m from £229.4m.

In the last six weeks of 2015, Croda lost £3,696m from its share price, a 10.6% drop.

Steve Foots, Croda’s chief executive, commented:”2015 has been a year of strong progress for Croda. A relentless focus on innovation, improved proximity to our customers and investment in fast growth markets has delivered record reported sales and pre-tax profit, together with a special dividend to shareholders.

“Looking ahead, whilst we expect market conditions to remain challenging, our strong innovation pipeline and the benefits of our customer-led investment in capacity mean that we are confident of delivering continued progress in 2016.”