Novozymes has reported that 6% organic sales growth in Q4 has led to full-year organic sales growth of 2% and 8% net profit growth.

In 2017, Novozymes said it expects to deliver organic sales growth of 2-5%, with contributions from all five business areas.

Novozymes believes it sees long-term opportunities within industrial biotechnology and will continue to invest in innovation to realize the potential of its pipeline. Successful commercialization of the pipeline makes a return to historical organic sales growth rates achievable, the company says, noting that it is now allocating additional resources to high-growth opportunities, primarily in emerging markets, while safeguarding profitability. This means that, across the organization and geographies, it has laid off 198 employees, 62 of them in Denmark.

“Q4 came in as expected at 6% organic sales growth, marking a positive end to an otherwise challenging year,” said Peder Holk Nielsen, President & CEO of Novozymes. “2017 will be a year with sustained investments in new innovation. The divisions have reviewed their strategies and made significant changes to accelerate growth, for example shifting more resources to the emerging markets. As a consequence, we unfortunately need to lay off 198 employees to enable investments in market opportunities in both 2017 and 2018.”