Givaudan SA
- Industry
- Chemicals & Flavors & Fragrances
- Exchange
- SW
- Country
- Switzerland
- Employees
- 17,508
- Website
- www.givaudan.com
Composite valuation range · conservative 2,100–2,400 / fair 2,650–3,000 / optimistic 3,200–3,700. At 2,913, Within the fair intrinsic-value range.
Data from EODHD, shown in the reporting currency; for reference only, not investment advice.
Givaudan SA engages in the manufacture, supply, and sale of fragrance, beauty, taste, and wellbeing products to the consumer goods industry. It operates in two divisions, Fragrance & Beauty, and Taste & Wellbeing. The Fragrance & Beauty division offers fine fragrances; consumer products, such as personal, home, fabric, and oral care; fragrance ingredients; and active beauty products. The Taste & Wellbeing division provides beverages, such as fizzy drinks, bottled waters, ready-to-drink juices, and alcoholic drinks; dairy and cheese products, including dairy drinks, yoghurt, ice cream, chilled desserts, cream cheese, and spreads; snacks; givaudan flavour ingredients; savory, and supplements and nutraceutical products; and biscuits, crackers, and cereals, as well as confectionery products, such as chewing gums, chocolates, and sweets. It operates in Switzerland, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, North America, Latin America, and the Asia Pacific. Givaudan SA was founded in 1796 and is headquartered in Vernier, Switzerland.
History
Givaudan SA traces its origins to 1768 in Geneva, Switzerland, and was formally named and incorporated in 1898 by the Léon Givaudan brothers. In 2000 it was spun off from Roche and listed as an independent company. The group is organized into two business units, Fragrance & Beauty and Taste & Wellbeing. It built its Active Beauty business through the acquisitions of Active Organics in 2014 and Induchem in 2017, and made further acquisitions including DDW, Ungerer in 2020 and Custom Essence in 2022. By FY2025 the company reached revenue of CHF 7,472M, adjusted EBITDA of CHF 1,807M (24.2% margin) and net income of CHF 1,071M (14.3% margin), operating roughly 9 innovation centers and 50+ production sites with 16,000+ employees and 200+ long-term customers. On 2026-03-01 it completed a CEO transition from Gilles Andrier to Christian Stammkoetter.
Industry position
Givaudan is the largest company in the global flavors and fragrances (F&F) industry, with a global market share of roughly 25%. It operates in an oligopoly alongside IFF (United States, ~20%), Firmenich (which merged with DSM into dsm-firmenich in 2023) and Symrise (Germany, ~12%), with the top players together holding at least 53% of the market; the overall F&F industry was about USD 34–36B in size in 2025. Its competitive position rests on high customer switching costs, because once a formula is written into a downstream brand's product, re-flavoring requires 1–2 years of consumer testing plus regulatory filing, supported by about 250 years of accumulated know-how, 9 innovation centers, roughly 4,000 R&D staff including 400+ perfumers and flavorists, 6,000+ patents, R&D spending of about 8% of revenue, and a Perfumer School operating since 1946. Its customers include Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, L'Oréal, Chanel, Hermès and Estée Lauder.