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East Yorkshire smart science giant Croda hit £2 billion sales in 2022, with profit also passing the £500 million for the first time.

The FTSE-listed business recorded a 10.6 per cent increase in turnover, from £1.89 billion to £2.01 billion.

It comes as the year saw it complete the £667 million sale of the bulk of its performance technologies and industrial chemicals business to Cargill - including the significant Hull site - allowing it to create a “stronger margin, higher return, less cyclical, greater IP and lower carbon intensive business”.

The company played a huge role in the Covid-19 vaccination roll-out, providing its lipid system to transfer the active drug into the body for a major producer. Record sales, margin and profit had been seen by the Snaith team in the first half of the year.

Read more: Croda agrees £232m deal for South Korean beauty ingredients specialist

Steve Foots, chief executive, said: “2022 has been a milestone year for Croda as we continued our transition to a pure play consumer care and life sciences business, evolving our portfolio to be more closely aligned to the emerging megatrends driving our markets.

“For the first time, we delivered over £2 billion in sales and £500 million in adjusted operating profit, reflecting progress across all areas of our business. Consumer Care is increasingly resilient, supported by encouraging growth in our Fragrances and Flavours business, whilst Life Sciences has built on an exceptional prior year, with an exciting project pipeline in Pharma and a stand-out performance in Crop Protection.

"These record results have been achieved whilst managing a challenging environment. This demonstrates the power of our business model, our consistent execution, an increased resilience, following our recent portfolio changes, and the increasing importance of our products in our markets. We have a disciplined investment approach which is driving both organic and acquisitive growth.