International Flavors & Fragrances has reported a profit of $1.47 earnings per share for Q1, beating analyst consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.07.

Revenue was also up on expectations, at $783.30 million it exceeded analyst forecasts of $772.11 million, a year on year rise of 1.1 percent.

Sales were driven by toiletries and fabric care while R&D in the flavors and fragrance division helped boost growth.

Of the company’s key markets, sales in North America were up 11 percent driven by acquisitions and growth in fragrances, which was also a strong driver in the Middle East and Africa, which also posted double digit growth. Meanwhile the company’s home care division grew mid-single digits led double digit growth in Latin America.

IFF Chairman and CEO Andreas Fibig said, “We are pleased with how we started 2016, in light of the volatile global operating environment and against our strongest year-ago growth comparison.
“Currency neutral sales growth was strong, improving 6%, with broad-based contributions from our acquisitions and organic growth. Performance in both Flavors and Fragrances accelerated sequentially with nearly all categories showing improvement versus the fourth quarter of 2015.”