Croda International plc, the Snaith, East Yorkshire-based specialty chemicals giant, cut its forecast for the full year after it reported lower profit due to a dip in sales of its crop protection products.

“With a weaker than anticipated performance in Life Sciences due to continued destocking in Crop Protection and consumer health, and no signs of an immediate recovery in Crop Protection, we now expect Group adjusted profit before tax to be between £260 million and £280 million in full year 2024 at constant currency,” the company said.

Its shares fell nearly 5% on the London Stock Exchange.

For the first six months of the financial year, Croda reported sales of £815.9 million, down from £880.9 million in the same period a year ago. Profit before tax was £106.1 million, down from £128.7 million a year ago.

Steve Foots, Chief Executive Officer, said: “Group performance was in line with expectations in the first half year, with further progress in Consumer Care, key strategic Pharma platforms and Industrial Specialties. The Group returned to year-on-year growth in the second quarter, helped by more stable market conditions, price discipline and continued operational progress.”

“We’ve seen continued momentum in higher growth areas where we have focused recent investment, testament to our strategy to realign the portfolio towards the megatrends shaping our industry. In particular our strong relationships with local and regional customers is driving growth as they innovate and grow quickly. And with customer pipelines continuing to expand across biologics, vaccines and nucleic acid-based drugs, our strategic focus areas in Pharma will support accelerating growth for Croda in due course.”