Presentation and history

• COMPANY OVERVIEW
• 1850 - 1923 : 1^st GENERATION
• 1923 - 1961 : 2^nd GENERATION
• 1961 - 1986 : 3^rd GENERATION
• FROM 1986 : 4^th GENERATION

Company Overview

Robertet SA is one of the world's top ten developers of flavour and perfume additives and ingredients. Throughout its history the company has emphasized the natural ingredients sector, leaving synthetic products to its competitors.

Based in Grasse, France, the self-proclaimed perfume capital of the world, Robertet realizes some 80 percent of its sales on the international market. The United States alone accounts for more than 40 percent of Robertet's sales, which topped the symbolic FFr 1 billion mark (EUR 150 million) for the first time in 1999.

The company's operations are conducted through three divisions: Raw Materials, Perfumery, and Flavourings. Perfumery represents the company's historical activity, and it continues to account for 38 percent of Robertet's annual sales. The company supplies the ingredients that go into the perfume creations of many of the world's great perfumes and scents.

Food and beverage flavourings, a market the company entered in the 1970s, has become its chief revenue generator, accounting for 41 percent of its annual sales. This division is particularly active in the United States, where the company has made a number of major investments to support its operations. Since 1999, the company has opened facilities in Piscataway and Plainfield, New Jersey, as well as a production facility in Mexico.

The company's third division, Raw Materials, supplies ingredients to the cosmetics industry for products such as soaps, shampoos, and other beauty products, as well as air fresheners. Even though Europe and North America account for the majority of the company sales, Robertet has earmarked the Asian market for future growth and has begun a series of investment in that part of the world, with the opening of production facilities in India and the opening of a manufacturing plant in China.

Robertet, listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange, remains nonetheless controlled by the founding Maubert family, who own more than half of the company's shares, led by Philippe Maubert.

In spite of stiff competition worldwide, Robertet owe their success to their ability to anticipate their customers' needs through innovation and creativity, in keeping with the newest market conditions. Desirous of maintaining their worldwide presence, Robertet are quite naturally engaged on the path towards Quality Management (ISO 9002 standard) to satisfy their economic partners.