Sales soared 36 per cent for Croda International, with strong growth reported alongside the £145 million generated from coronavirus vaccine-related ingredients.
Annual results for the East Yorkshire smart science giant published to the City showed a turnover of £1.9 billion in 2021, up from £1.4 billion.
Without the huge input into the Pfizer jabs, sales were still up 18 per cent on 2019, with half year results having given a strong indication back in August.
Read more: Large new warehouse unit at strategic East Yorkshire site enters planning
Operating profit was up 51 per cent on 2020, with the Cowick Hall team having told a year ago how the pandemic role would be reflected in the 2021 results.
Steve Foots, chief executive of the Snaith firm, said: "2021 has been an outstanding year for Croda, with record financial results and excellent strategic progress. All parts of the business have delivered underlying growth, ahead of 2019 pre-pandemic levels, with strong cost recovery in a high inflation environment.
“Our health care business delivered an exceptional performance as a result of the work we have done to support the global roll out of Covid-19 mRNA vaccines and therapeutic drugs, and a rapidly building pipeline of non-Covid applications. This progress has been supported by further organic and inorganic investment to increase innovation and strengthen our platform for future growth.
"I'm grateful to Croda colleagues around the world who have risen to the dual challenges of responding to a rapid recovery in customer demand whilst managing ongoing Covid-19 restrictions. I am also delighted that we have established the Croda Foundation, which is already helping over 50 million people globally by supporting vaccine infrastructure.
"Our excellent strategic progress during the Covid-19 pandemic has included progressing our transition to a pure-play consumer care and life sciences company, with our agreement to sell the majority of our industrial businesses. As a result, Croda will now be focused on faster growth, higher return markets, positioning us to deliver more consistent sales growth and an even stronger profit margin."
As reported, the £778 million deal with Cargill, involves the huge Hull plant. it is scheduled to complete this summer.
Mr Foots said growth is expected to continue in 2022 in line with the firm’s medium-term expectations, supported by robust consumer demand, inflation cost recovery and the benefit of recent investments “more than offsetting moderation in customer restocking”.
Lipid systems sales - the ingredient used to carry the vaccine into the body - are expected to be at a similar level to 2021.
“The combination of our differentiated business model, healthy innovation pipeline and current investment programme are expected to underpin performance and continue to generate value for all our stakeholders,” Mr Foots said.
Early trading saw shares fown 3.6 per cent to 7,210 (10am) - with conflict-related volatility a factor across the FTSE 100 Index.
Keep up-to-date with all the latest developments - follow BusinessLive Humber on Twitter and LinkedIn.
