Shares of Croda International, the Snaith, East Yorkshire-based FTSE 100 specialty chemicals giant, rose about 5% on Thursday as it published an update on its sales performance for the three months ended September 30,  2025.

Croda said third-quarter group sales rose 6.5% to £425 million at constant currency and it reported “continued growth in a more challenging environment led by Beauty Actives, Fragrances and Flavours (F&F) and Crop Protection.”

The East Yorkshire firm said the imposition of US trade tariffs “has contributed to volatility in quarterly performance by region, adversely impacting customers’ export sales in certain regions, particularly in pharma and industrial markets in Asia, and in agriculture markets in Latin America.”

Croda said: “Q3 sales increased to £424.7m, up 4.4% on a reported basis versus the prior year and up 6.5% in constant currency.

“As anticipated, customer demand in Q3 was similar to Q2, with sequential sales ahead in a more challenging market environment.

“Sales growth was driven by an improvement in Beauty Actives, continued double-digit sales growth in F&F and further recovery in Crop Protection.

“We have continued to optimise utilisation at our shared production sites through targeted sales of ingredients in Beauty Care, Crop Protection and Industrial Specialties as part of the actions we have been taking since 2024 to increase operating margins.

“Alongside innovation-led growth in Actives and further strength in F&F, this resulted in another quarter of low double-digit sales volume increases compared with the same period last year.

“As a result of these actions, mix continued to be negative year-on-year due to both product and business mix. Like-for-like prices remained largely consistent with the prior year …

“The progress we are making to enhance our operational efficiency underpins our confidence in being able to deliver annualised cost savings of £100m by end of 2027, contributing to margin recovery.

“We expect the more challenging trading environment and low order book visibility to continue for the remainder of the year.

“In line with previous years, absolute sales in Q4 are likely to be seasonally lower than in the first three quarters as customers typically manage their working capital into the year end.

“Despite this, the combination of good year-to-date sales growth and delivery of anticipated cost savings means that our full year 2025 outlook is unchanged. We continue to expect to deliver £265m to £295m Group adjusted profit before tax at constant currency …”