Novozymes says selected markets are creating headwinds for 2019

In Finland, Novozymes has experienced a decline of 2% in organic sales in the first five months of 2019. Although this is an improvement compared with the 4% decline reported for the first quarter, the softness in sales, particularly in May, reflects market headwinds. Severe weather in the US Midwest are impacting grain-processing volumes and challenging the planting season, according to their press release.

“The recovery of our US Bioenergy business has not progressed as expected, and demand in some emerging markets is soft. While these factors have reduced our growth expectations, we anticipate that good pickup in demand for new innovation will accelerate growth in the second half of the year. Our full-year organic sales growth outlook for 2019 is now 1-3%.”

Peder Holk Nielsen, President & CEO said, “While we still expect a solid pickup in sales for the remainder of the year, driven by new innovation, this cannot overcome the weakness in some of our businesses, especially in agriculture- and energy-related activities. We’re focused on delivering to our full potential and will give an update on this at our upcoming Capital Market Day on June 17.”