Novozymes has announced that it has seen a “satisfactory” first nine months, with 5% organic sales growth in Q3 and 4% in the first nine months.

Peder Holk Nielsen, President & CEO, said: “We delivered solid earnings and organic revenue growth of 5% in the third quarter and 4% after the first nine months. This is overall satisfactory, and we increase the outlook for net profit growth. Despite recent challenging markets in the Middle East, we maintain our 4-6% organic revenue growth guidance, albeit with the likelihood that we will close the year toward the lower part of the range. On our innovation efforts, we further demonstrate our strong pipeline and ability to commercialize game-changing solutions with the third-quarter launch of Balancius for animal feed.”

During the first nine months of 2018, Food & Beverages sales grew by 4% organically and were flat in DKK compared with the same period last year. In the third quarter y/y, organic growth was 3% and 2% in DKK.

Food & nutrition, beverages and starch all posted good growth in the first nine months of 2018 compared with the same period last year. Baking saw a slight decline for the first nine months after a third quarter challenged, in particular, by the Middle East.

Also in the third quarter, enzyme sales to the starch industry were soft, due to volatile commodity pricing in Asia Pacific (China) in particular. Novozymes said that its solutions for low-lactose dairy, trans fat reduction and acrylamide reduction continued their good momentum in the market, supported by increasing health awareness trends among consumers.

Both emerging markets and developed markets posted growth for the first nine months of 2018 compared with the first nine months of 2017.