International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (IFF) has released its full year results for 2025, reporting its highest earning division – Food Ingredients – brought in $3.28bn (€2.78bn).
So it comes as somewhat of a surprise that it’s this division the ingredients major wants to offload, in a move designed to “optimise” its portfolio.
Over the course of the year, the company met its full-year financial commitments, according to IFF CEO Erik Fyrwald, and is making moves to “direct resources” towards its “highest-value businesses”.
In other words, compared to IFF’s other departments, Food Ingredients operates on tighter margins.
Diving deeper into the financial results reveals that to be the case. Although Food Ingredients sales were strong, outranking Scent ($2.48bn), Health & Biosciences ($2.28bn), and Taste ($2.48bn), sales were actually down 3%.
Yes, part of the business grew strongly - Inclusions – but this was offset by weaker sales in its protein ingredients business, as well as the company’s decision to stop selling some low-profit products during 2025.
Overall, the division made $423m in adjusted operating profit, with a profit margin of 12.9%.
That’s still a significant figure, but comparing it with IFF’s other divisions puts it into perspective. Taste achieved a 19.3% profit margin, Scent 20.8%, and Health & Biosciences an impressive 26%. By contrast, Food Ingredients is indeed the lowest‑margin performer.
Overall, IFF is reporting about $10.9bn in sales in 2025, with underlying sales growing 2% in what its CEO describes as a “challenging operating environment”. It can’t be denied that selling off its $3.28bn business will not only materially reshape the company’s portfolio, but also its future.
