Is the business good?
How good a business is IFF?
International Flavors & Fragrances earns 3.2% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
3.2%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 5.8 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 7.4%
Operating margin · Specialty Chemicals median 9.1% · 12 months to Q1 2026
- Share count, year on year
- +0.39%
Share count, year on year · flat: no meaningful dilution
- R&D as % of revenue
- 6.5%
R&D as % of revenue
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 11% |
| FY2021 | 5.0% |
| FY2022 | −11% |
| FY2023 | −18% |
| FY2024 | 6.7% |
| FY2025 | −3.5% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 36%
- Operating margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 7.4%
- Free cash flow margin
- 3.7%
- R&D as % of revenue
- 6.5%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $10.8B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $400M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 3.2%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.
Specialty Chemicals
Ranks #28 of 36 by Smart Score