International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) — Tellvest

Key financialsFY2026 Q1

Reported GAAP figures from SEC filings

Quarter	Revenue	Rev YoY	EPS	EPS YoY	Gross margin	Op margin	Net margin	FCF
FY2024 Q4	$2.77B	+2.5%	$-0.18	+98.2%	35.4%	4.6%	-1.7%	$208M
FY2025 Q1	$2.84B	-1.9%	$-3.98	-1830.4%	36.4%	-31.8%	-35.8%	$-52M
FY2025 Q2	$2.76B	-4.3%	$2.38	+260.6%	37.3%	7.2%	22.1%	$146M
FY2025 Q3	$2.69B	-7.9%	$0.16	-30.4%	36.5%	8.4%	1.5%	$30M
FY2025 Q4	$2.59B	-6.6%	$0.07	+138.9%	34.4%	4.4%	1.2%	$130M
FY2026 Q1	$2.74B	-3.6%	$0.66	+116.6%	37.1%	10.2%	6.2%	$92M
FY2026 Q2	$1.95B	-29.3%	$0.19	-92.0%	43.7%	8.1%	2.6%	$286M

As stated by management on the call

Management’s own words, often on a non-GAAP, constant-currency, or adjusted basis — so these can differ from the GAAP figures above (e.g. constant-currency revenue growth excludes currency swings).

EPS: “Adjusted operating EBITDA totaled $568 million for the quarter, an 8% increase with adjusted EBITDA margin also increased by 110 basis points on a currency-neutral basis to 20.7%”
Revenue: “IFF delivered revenue of greater than $2.7 billion in the first quarter with 3% sales growth”
Guidance: “reiterating our sales expectation of $10.5 billion to $10.8 billion, representing 1% to 4% growth and adjusted operating EBITDA of $2.05 billion to $2.15 billion, represents 3% to 8% growth”
Key metric: “net debt to credit adjusted EBITDA ended Q1 at 2.5x, slightly below last quarter”

Key Themes7

positive📊 company

Solid 3% CCN Growth With All Segments Contributing

IFF delivered revenue of greater than $2.7 billion with 3% comparable currency-neutral sales growth driven by volume improvements across all businesses, led by mid-single-digit H&B growth and low single-digit gains in Taste, Food Ingredients, and Scent.

Revenue GrowthDemand

positive📊 company

Highest EBITDA Margin Since Q2 2022 At 20.7%

Adjusted operating EBITDA totaled $568 million, an 8% increase, with EBITDA margin improving 110 basis points to 20.7%, the highest level since Q2 2022, driven by volume growth, productivity gains, and favorable pricing.

MarginCost Pressure

positive📊 company

Food Ingredients Sale Process Advancing With Strong Buyer Interest

Several potential buyers in second round of due diligence with very positive feedback. Business performing well with double-digit EBITDA growth in 2025 and again in Q1 2026. Update expected by Q2 earnings call.

M&ACapital Allocation

positive📊 company

Free Cash Flow Improving Meaningfully Year-Over-Year

Q1 free cash flow of $92 million increased $144 million year-over-year, with cash flow from operations up $130 million. Working capital discipline remains a key 2026 priority with compensation metric tied to free cash flow conversion.

Capital Allocation

negative🌍 macro

Middle East Conflict Creates Q2 Headwinds For Fine Fragrance And Costs

Middle East conflict expected to impact Fine Fragrance volumes in Q2 from slower demand and customer supply chain challenges, while driving energy and logistics cost inflation requiring pricing surcharges.

MacroeconomicSupply Chain

negative📊 company

Fragrance Ingredients Commodity Pressure Continues

Fragrance Ingredients declined in Q1 from continued market softness and price competition in commodities, with Scent EBITDA down 2% as volume gains and productivity were offset by unfavorable price-to-input costs.

PricingCompetitive Dynamics

negative🌍 macro

Inflationary Pressures Building From Energy, Logistics, And Raw Materials

Brent crude up significantly versus 2025 average driving double-digit energy and logistics cost increases. Raw material inflation expected later in 2026. IFF implementing pricing surcharges with 12-18 month full recovery expected.

Cost PressureMacroeconomic

Q&A Topicsfrequency by quarter

	Demand	Margin	Competitive Dynamics	Revenue Growth	Capital Allocation	M&A	Innovation & R&D	Cost Pressure
2024Q4	2	6	2	6	2	2	2	2
2025Q1	6	2	2	2	3	1	2	3
2025Q2	7	2	4	4	2	4	3	1
2025Q3	5	3	4	1	4	4	2
2025Q4	5	5	3	2	2	2	4	2
2026Q1	4	3	4	2	2	2	1	2

	'24Q4	'25Q1	'25Q2	'25Q3	'25Q4	'26Q1
Demand	2	6	7	5	5	4
Margin	6	2	2	3	5	3
Competitive Dynamics	2	2	4	4	3	4
Revenue Growth	6	2	4	1	2	2
Capital Allocation	2	3	2	4	2	2
M&A	2	1	4	4	2	2
Innovation & R&D	2	2	3	2	4	1
Cost Pressure	2	3	1		2	2

Analyst Q&A14 analysts · 14 questions · 14% challenge

Anojja ShahUBS

can you give us a little more detail there, maybe some of the moving parts to get to what you're guiding to for Q2?

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Edlain RodriguezMizuho Securities

the Ingredients business continues to be the weak link, it seems like. Like how should we think about that business now

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Emily FuscoDeutsche Bank

Do you still expect North American health trends to improve starting in the back half of the year with a full recovery in 2027?

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Fulvio CazzolBerenberg

for the rest of the segments, is that still your expectation?

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Ghansham PanjabiRobert W. Baird

can you just give us more color on the specifics that drove the upside? And also sort of looking back at the quarter, do you think you benefited from any sort of out-of-pattern ordering due to cust...

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Harris FeinWolfe Research

On the Taste margins, they came in a fair bit better than we were expecting on, say, not a huge amount of organic growth. So can we just zoom in on what's happening there?

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Katie GrafsteinBarclays

As you start to have pricing discussions with your customers, are you noticing any pushback?

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Kristen OwenOppenheimer

given the strength of the Q1 results, what needs to happen to get you to the high end and the low end of the guide?

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Laurence AlexanderJefferies

one of your goals for the segments was to recoup the share positions that they used to have with a flat to higher gross margin for each of the subunits. Can you give an update on that strategy

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Lisa De NeveMorgan Stanley

can you share some -- where you are in the process right now? And maybe when you intend or hope to update the market on any potential events?

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Matt HettwerVertical Research Partners

how are you thinking about capital allocation between stock buybacks, R&D investment, bolt-on M&A opportunities and new ventures like Alpha Bio?

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Mike SisonWells Fargo

At what point does this inflation flow through to the consumer and start to impact demand?

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Nicola TangBNP Paribas

what assumptions on both pricing and input inflation you're baking into your top line and EBITDA outlook

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Silke KueckJPMorgan

in which segments you think you gained share this quarter, whether it's in Taste or Health & Nutrition? And can you quantify in some way like the product launches that are coming in the back half

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Top Analysts & Firms

Most Active Analysts

Analyst	Firm	Questions (Challenge)Percentage of questions scored as challenging — where the analyst pushed back, pressed for specifics, or questioned management's assumptions.
Ghansham Panjabi	Robert W. Baird	7 (29%)
Kristen Owen	Oppenheimer	7 (0%)
Nicola Tang	BNP Paribas	7 (14%)
Lisa De Neve	Morgan Stanley	7 (0%)
Laurence Alexander	Jefferies	6 (17%)
John Roberts	Mizuho Securities	6 (17%)
Josh Spector	UBS	6 (50%)
Lauren Lieberman	Barclays	5 (20%)
Mike Sison	Wells Fargo	5 (40%)
Salvator Tiano	Bank of America	4 (25%)

Most Active Firms

Firm	Analysts	Questions (Challenge)Percentage of questions scored as challenging — where the analyst pushed back, pressed for specifics, or questioned management's assumptions.
Wolfe Research	2	7 (0%)
Barclays	3	7 (14%)
Robert W. Baird	1	7 (29%)
UBS	2

Industry Peersas of Q1 2026

Chemicals - Specialty

Company	Score	Rev YoY	Headline
IFF International Flavors & Fragrances	6	-3.6%	Solid 3% CCN growth with all segments contributing
ALB Albemarle Corporation	9	+32.7%	Revenue surges 33% with adjusted EBITDA more than doubling
APD Air Products	9	+8.8%	Air Products delivered Q2 EPS of $3.20 growing 19% as sales rose 9% driven by volume-led growth across the core industrial gas portfolio, the strongest top-line performance in several quarters
DD DuPont	6	-45.2%	Strong Start to 2026 with Beat and Raise
ECL Ecolab	7	+10.0%	Adjusted EPS grows 13% with accelerating organic momentum
LIN Linde plc	9	+8.3%	Sales surged 8% to $8.8 billion with EPS of $4.33 up 10%, or 5% excluding favorable currency translation, as margin expansion tracked at the upper end of the range
LYB LyondellBasell	4	-6.3%	Middle East conflict disrupts >20% of global PE/PP capacity
PPG PPG Industries	6	+6.7%	Fifth consecutive quarter of organic growth despite challenging macro
SHW The Sherwin-Williams Company	6	+6.8%	Aggressive share gains across all segments

Shared themes this quarter

IFALAPDDECLILYPPSH

Demand

IFALAPDDECLILYPPSH

Macro signal alignment

Consumer spending

IFF ALB↑ DD LYB PPG

Supply chain

ALB APD↓ LIN↓ LYB↓ SHW

Trade & tariffs

↓ IFF↓ APD↓ DD LYB↓ PPG

International Flavors & Fragrances

Key financialsFY2026 Q1

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