Fragrance and flavors maker Symrise has announced it will place more emphasis on company growth as opposed to driving profit margins, with a strong focus on investments such as breeding vanilla varieties and looking into probiotic skin creams.

The company expanded its EBITDA over sales to 22 per cent, falling behind rivals IFF and Givaudan. However, Chief Executive Heinz-Juergen Bertram told Reuters, “We’re happy for the margin to move above 22 percent, but we will preferably invest in more growth. Our focus will not necessarily be on expanding into new fields of business but rather to better recombine what we have.”

Symrise expects its margin to fall to 20 percent this year following folding of recently purchased Pinova into the company.

Other projects include plans to increase its drive to take more control over raw material supplies by breeding vanilla in Madagascar and work with Swedish biotech firm Probi AB – of which the company owns a stake – to create creams based on bacterial cultures to keep the skin healthy.