DDW, The Color House, is pleased to announce that on June 28, 2019 it completed a transaction to acquire the DuPont Natural Colors business which was part of DuPont’s Nutrition & Biosciences division.  The acquisition expands DDW’s global reach and adds technical and manufacturing capabilities in several core natural colors.

DDW adds two DuPont manufacturing facilities (Burton-on-Trent, UK and Santiago, Chile) and all related customer contracts. The expanded business will operate under the “DDW, The Color House” brand. DuPont originally acquired the business in 2017 as part of their acquisition of FMC’s Health & Nutrition business.

“This is the perfect opportunity to expand our portfolio with unique new products and  deepen our position in blending and emulsions. The associates at both sites are very experienced and will ensure that we can continue to provide outstanding products and services during the transition,” explains Ted Nixon, CEO of DDW.

Chr. Hansen realizes solid organic growth of 10 % in the first three months of the financial year 2018/19, delivering in line with our „Nature’s no. 1 – Sustainably“ growth ambitions.

Chr. Hansen reports solid organic revenue growth of 10 % in the first three months corresponding to 6 % reported growth due to adverse currency impacts: Food Cultures & Enzymes 10 %, Health & Nutrition 17 % and Natural Colors 6 %. EBIT before special items increased by 9 % to EUR 71 million, corresponding to an EBIT margin before special items of 26.3 % which was up 0.9 %-point compared to last year. The overall outlook for 2018/19 remains unchanged.

CEO Mauricio Graber says: “We have had a solid start to the year, with Food Cultures & Enzymes delivering strong organic growth with contributions from volume and EUR pricing, in line with our expectations. Organic growth in Health and Nutrition was also strong, driven by global demand for probiotics for infant formula in Human Health. Animal Health was impacted by timing of orders, but the underlying interest in microbial solutions for animal farming remains strong, and we continue to improve our route-to-market. Plant Health had another excellent quarter in Latin America, although absolute numbers are still modest. We were also pleased to see the momentum in Natural Colors continue in Q1, driven by demand for coloring foodstuff, where we also launched new products for the FRUITMAX® range during Q1.

“Our EBIT margin before special items in Q1 increased by 0.9 %-point and was driven by improved margins in Health & Nutrition and Natural Colors. The EBIT margin in Food Cultures & Enzymes was positively impacted by a strong development in gross margin, and ended on par with last year, as we continued to invest in our growth and innovation priorities. We continue to expect a positive contribution from further scalability benefits, as we ramp up utilization of the new capacity in our facility in Copenhagen.

“We are encouraged by the solid start to the year, and we maintain our overall guidance for the full year. Our pipeline of products to be launched this year, from all three business areas, looks very promising and will support the growth potential of Chr. Hansen.”

As a global leader in the nutrition industry, Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) is continually working on optimizing its performance and aligning it to future market requirements. This year, for example, this has included investing in state-of-the art technologies and establishing modern, interdisciplinary organizational units and additional routes to ensure greater customer proximity. Here are a few new developments:

ADM Strengthens Presence in Africa

In addition to its existing office in Nairobi, Kenya, ADM opened another location in Africa at the beginning of 2018. The new office in Lagos, Nigeria, is a key contact point for customers on the North/West African market, and provides them with fast, direct access to the consulting and other services of ADM experts. A qualified team with extensive knowledge of the industry, operational expertise and regional experience is available to current and potential customers. The team provides advice for all issues relating to production – from new plants or processes through to ingredients. Their broad knowledge makes the ADM team in Lagos reliable partners who can support manufacturers with a view of the whole picture.

New Production Plant for Colors in Berlin

As a result of further increasing demand for foods and beverages with natural ingredients, ADM has increased its production capacity for WILD coloring foodstuffs and WILD Colors from Nature^® at the company’s Berlin site. One of the two new production lines is designed for water-soluble products, the other for emulsions. The colors are used in flavor systems and fruit preparations, and also sold as single ingredients. Moreover, in the summer of 2018, the company started up a sampling plant for color samples. The same technology enables a scale-up process for the production plants. Sample units are available in quantities of 1 to 20 kilograms.

Chocolate Center: Efficient and Customer-Oriented

Almost no category hold as much potential for new creative product developments as food containing chocolate. This is reason enough for ADM to establish a new Chocolate Center in Berlin. Since September, several teams of experts from relevant specialist fields have been working here together with customers to develop innovative products. The customers benefit from this in two ways: they can outsource large parts of the time-consuming and production-intensive product development, and they remain actively involved in decisive creative steps.

As the conversion wave from synthetic to natural colors continues to rise in the US market, Chr. Hansen gears up for the future

Global bioscience company Chr. Hansen has purchased the Banker Wire manufacturing facility in Mukwonago, Wisconsin, adding significantly to its presence in North America, in convenient proximity to its Milwaukee-base. Taking this step is in response to an ever growing interest from US consumers in products made from natural, recognizable and safe ingredients, putting pressure on food and beverage producers to convert to natural colors.

The acquired facility will be renovated to become the new North American headquarters for the company’s Natural Colors Division, housing everything from production, to research and development, application and quality assurance labs, a pilot plant, a dedicated warehouse, as well as sales and marketing and other business support functions.
“This is the largest single investment for Natural Colors in recent years and demonstrates our commitment to the important North American market,” says Jacob Vishof Paulsen, acting Executive Vice President of Natural Colors Division. “Having the whole chain gathered in one place will allow for a fast and agile response to customer needs, supporting Chr. Hansen’s current and future business demands for the next decade – with room to grow.”

High quality products, faster

The expansion will strengthen Chr. Hansen’s position as an industry leader with full supply chain capabilities to deliver natural color solutions to current and future customers. The new state-of-the-art site will create better speed to market, based on more flexibility in production and supply chain and resulting in high quality products, faster.
Chr. Hansen, who has been present on the North American market since 1878, will take over the building next year and initially employ 70-80 people. Meanwhile we will continue to serve our many customers from our base in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.