Corbion (CRBN) Status update summary

Strategy and targets

• BRIGHT 2030 positions the business in sustainable specialty food ingredients, focused on natural preservation and nutrition and leveraging fermentation and food-solutions expertise.

• 2026–2028 targets: annual sales growth of 3%–6%, adjusted EBITDA margin of ~18% by 2028, and cumulative cash flow/FCF of EUR 270 million.

• Innovation combines bioscience and application expertise; Focus prioritizes opportunities with the strongest potential and right to win, Expand extends capability value and reach, and Accelerate improves speed and productivity.

Innovation investment and productivity

• R&D and application investment was 3.4% of revenue, or EUR 43 million, in 2025; planned investment will grow in line with or ahead of revenue, without requiring a two- or threefold increase.

• More than one-fifth of revenue came from new products or solutions, including products made with newer, more efficient technologies; innovation-funnel speed increased 4x through greater focus and fewer projects.

• Digital, data and AI tools are expected to reduce experiments needed for a given outcome by at least 20% and deliver 10%–20% R&D productivity gains; the ambition is to double R&D contribution to new revenue.

• A Bayesian optimization case identified process settings in 10 experimental runs, reducing process time and increasing output by 110%.

• Innovation launched during BRIGHT 2030 is expected to contribute 1.5%–2% annual sales growth; the manufacturing efficiency pipeline exceeds 5% of variable cost, with ~5% cumulative variable-cost savings expected by 2030.

Growth platforms and open innovation

• Prepared-food natural preservation targets a ~EUR 250 million market growing at 7% CAGR; Listeria control addresses a EUR 1.5 billion market growing at double-digit rates.

• Structured lipids target a EUR 2 billion niche within a EUR 15 billion–EUR 20 billion lipid market; initial building blocks address ~EUR 300 million–EUR 500 million.

• Development priorities include fermentation-based antioxidants in a EUR 300 million segment and exploration of food and specialized-nutrition peptides and proteins, with several EUR 100 million opportunities per protein.

• NURTURE NEXT partners on nutrition and label-friendly preservation and scouts disruptive production technologies; screening considers technology and regulatory readiness, cost efficacy, AI-powered market assessment and label-friendly naming.

• Astaxanthin work with KAS covers microalgae scale-up and food supplements first, with aquaculture as a later opportunity; structured-lipid and algae development may use existing assets without extra CapEx through 2028.