Our Advance 2025 strategy and beyond

ⓘ This chapter includes disclosures related to ESRS 2 SBM1 (new window).

Concluding the Advance 2025 strategy period, we have successfully built on Corbion's fundamental strengths by further focusing our business portfolio in alignment with global market trends, including opportunities related to sustainability.

Strategic development update on Advance 2025

Over the five-year strategic period, we delivered on our strategy through targeted investments in natural food preservation, algae-derived ingredients, lactic acid and its derivatives, and natural polymers. These actions enabled Corbion to capture opportunities linked to consumer health, climate change, biodiversity, and circularity. Throughout the strategic cycle, we aligned our efforts with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring our solutions contribute to global sustainability priorities while creating added value that opens new markets, attracts customers, and drives business growth.

Functional Ingredients & Solutions

Our Functional Ingredients & Solutions segment encompasses three businesses: Food, Biochemicals, and Lactic Acid to our Joint Venture.

Food

In 2025, we continued to advance our strategy in the Food business by focusing on high-potential ingredient platforms rooted in fermentation, preservation, and functional systems. With our portfolio now centered on these core strengths, we prioritized investments that improve product performance, enable label-friendly formulation, and support nutritional enhancement across bakery, dairy, culinary, meat and poultry, snacks, and pet food applications.

To support this focus, we strengthened our global operating footprint and technical application capabilities. In North America, we expanded our fermentation and vinegar production capacity in Montgomery and enhanced our dairy and bakery innovation laboratories, including a new micro lab to accelerate pilot work and product testing. In Latin America, we expanded our facility in Querétaro (Mexico), improving service responsiveness and supporting continued growth in the region. In Asia Pacific, we expanded our application capabilities in Singapore and advanced integration of our functional ingredient capabilities in India, improving regional supply efficiency and customer support.

Across all regions, we continued to build on our presence in adjacent growth categories, including natural antioxidants, fermentation-based preservation solutions, and stabilization systems for dairy and plant-based products. These platforms align with long-term consumer preferences for familiar ingredient statements, nutritional value, and clarity in how food is produced.

With a more focused portfolio, greater technical depth, and a more coordinated global operating model, we completed the final year of Advance 2025 as a streamlined and strategically aligned Food business. This positions us to compete effectively in the functional ingredients space and deliver sustained value to customers and stakeholders.

Looking ahead, we will develop and deliver natural food-preservation solutions that help customers meet rising consumer demand for label-friendly, sustainable ingredients.

Biochemicals

In the Biochemical business, we focus on harnessing our fermentation expertise and optimized global infrastructure to fuel scalable growth and profitability. The launch of our new circular lactic acid plant in Thailand strengthens our supply chain, offering greater flexibility and resilience to adapt to shifting demand and cost pressures. Our strategic initiatives enhance our ability to serve rapidly changing markets. With an expanded fermentation network, we are well-positioned to meet rising demand for lactic acid and its derivatives, catering to a diverse customer base across various biochemical applications.

Lactic Acid to our PLA Joint Venture

Lactic acid production for the PLA market is a key component of our Functional Ingredients & Solutions strategy. Through our TotalEnergies Corbion 50/50 joint venture, we produce and market Luminy® PLA. The demand for biobased, biodegradable polymers continues to grow as they offer a more sustainable alternative to traditional plastics, aligning with global sustainability goals.

Following the announcement at the Capital Markets Day in November 2025, we started executing on a plan directed at selling the interest in the TotalEnergies Corbion joint venture.

Health & Nutrition

Our Health & Nutrition segment encompasses three businesses: Nutrition, Pharma, and Biomaterials.

Nutrition

Our Nutrition business produces algae-derived long-chain omega-3 fatty acids at industry-leading scale and is manufactured on land through fermentation. This approach strengthens supply chain resilience, as ocean resources alone cannot meet the growing demand for omega-3 without adverse environmental impacts.

Our initial focus was on omega-3 for aquaculture. More recently, we have built strong positions in pet food and successfully entered the human nutrition markets as well. We continue to leverage and expand our backward-integrated model to reliably supply high-quality nutrition in a sustainable way.

Our AlgaPrime™ DHA portfolio promotes sustainability, health, and supply chain resilience in aquaculture and companion animals, while creating opportunities to add value for the industry. The human nutrition market is served under our AlgaVia™ brand.

Looking ahead, we will expand our algae-derived ingredients portfolio beyond omega-3 oils and explore new applications in human nutrition and pet food, including omega-9, to unlock growth in high-potential segments.

Pharma

Our Pharma business provides quality (active) pharmaceutical ingredients derived from lactic acid and builds on a long track-record in quality and reliable supplies to serve global and regional partners in the pharmaceutical industry. Our partners use our ingredients for formulations and medicines targeting renal and acute care, among other applications.

As the number of patients with kidney and other chronic diseases continues to increase globally, and global pharmaceutical supply chains face pressure, customers depend more on our PURASAL® pharma product lines. These products are manufactured in accordance with the strictest current Good Manufacturing Practice guidelines and meet the highest quality standards.

Biomaterials

Our Biomaterials business focuses on recovery-oriented care by providing materials that support healing, sustained therapeutic effectiveness, or regeneration for a defined period with less interventions and pain for the patients. As healthcare shifts away from intervention-heavy models, we help reduce long-term burden on patients and healthcare systems by replacing permanent or intervention-driven solutions with materials designed to work with the body’s natural processes.

We collaborate with leading medical and pharmaceutical partners to drive innovation in medical devices, novel drug delivery systems, and aesthetics. Across these applications we focus on designing materials that perform precisely as needed, support recovery as it unfolds, and leave nothing behind. Our strategy, focused on safe, resorbable polymers, aligns with key healthcare trends and creates value for patients, business partners, and the planet.

Looking ahead, we will grow our position in biomaterials and related healthcare applications, applying our expertise in science and fermentation to deliver high-value solutions.

Research and development initiatives

The Innovation Center at Corbion brings together all R&D teams from the business units and Global R&D, Sustainability, and Regulatory Affairs into one cohesive unit. This consolidation facilitates collaboration, leverages synergies, and creates clarity on priorities, ultimately increasing effectiveness, knowledge sharing, and output. While application teams reside in the regions due to their strong link with the commercial organization, the Innovation Center is structured around strategic platforms for solution and process innovation.

In early 2024, Corbion launched a clear innovation strategy that played a pivotal role in delivering our Advance 2025 goals. In 2025, we transitioned into our next strategic chapter, building on this foundation to continue guiding our innovation efforts toward future growth.

Targets Advance 2025

At Corbion, we are committed to creating sustainable value across the entire value chain. We achieve this by expanding our portfolio of sustainable solutions for our customers and by implementing responsible sourcing and manufacturing practices initiatives that help mitigate potential negative impacts of our business activities.

Financial guidance

Corbion updated its financial guidance on 27 February 2025, when it reported its full year 2024 results and issued guidance for full year 2025. For results, see the chapter Financial performance.

Period 2025

Organic volume/mix growth1

2-6% p.a.

Organic adjusted EBITDA growth

> 25% p.a.

Free Cash Flow (€ mln)

> € 85 mln

CapEx

€ 80-90 mln

Covenant net debt/covenant EBITDA​

1.6x
1 Organic growth defined as volume growth + mix growth, excluding price impact

Sustainable development targets

Corbion updated its 2025 sustainable development targets on 21 March 2025, when it published its Annual Report and issued guidance for 2025 and 2030. With the publication of the current report, we update our 2030 sustainable development targets. For results, see the chapter Sustainability performance.

2025 1

2030 1

Responsible sourcing

Raw materials covered by supplier code2

>90%

>90%

Verified responsibly sourced cane sugar3

98%

99%

Scope 3 emissions reduction (SBTi-approved target)4

n/a

25%

Verified deforestation-free key agricultural raw materials5

99%

99%

Responsible operations

Total Recordable Injury Rate6

< 2.50

< 1.25

Renewable electricity

100%

100%

Scope 1 & 2 emissions reduction (SBTi-approved target)7

n/a

42%

Sustainable solutions

Net sales contributing to the SDGs (SDG 2, 3, 12, 13, 14)8

75%

n/a
1 Targets based on current manufacturing footprint; to be reviewed in case of acquisitions/major changes.
2 By quantity.
3 Bonsucro-certified or meeting the requirements of Corbion’s Cane Sugar Code verified by third-party audits, by quantity. See our Cane Sugar Policy (new window) for more information.
4 Scope 3 emissions from purchased goods and services, upstream transportation and distribution, waste generated in operations and investments. Absolute reduction compared to 2021 as the base year. We report our emissions in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Our full scope 3 emissions and biogenic emissions are reported in the Sustainability statements (new window).
5 Key agricultural raw materials include cane sugar, dextrose derived from corn, palm oil and derivatives, soy-bean oil and derivatives, and wheat, by quantity. Through Bonsucro certification, RSPO certification, or other certification covering deforestation; or demonstrated to be deforestation-free based on satellite data, third-party audits (e.g., Corbion Cane Sugar Code audit), and/or country-of-origin statements.
6 Including contractors. Based on CSRD definition.
7 Scope 1 emissions from direct production (from fuels), scope 2 emissions from purchased energy (electricity and purchased steam, market-based). Absolute reduction compared to 2021 as the base year. We report our emissions in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
8 Net sales of products for which there is evidence that the product contributes to the SDGs. See our Measuring what matters whitepaper for more details.

BRIGHT 2030: Sharpening our focus for the future

Corbion has transformed over the past five years: investing in capacities, shaping and growing our portfolio toward natural ingredients, and strengthening our competitive position. Today, we stand ready to harvest the benefits of those investments.

Building on the successes of our previous strategy, Advance 2025, Corbion announced BRIGHT 2030 in November 2025, a roadmap for the years 2026–2030. This strategy provides a strong foundation for long-term value creation and positions Corbion to accelerate growth in high-potential segments, including natural preservation, human and pet nutrition, and biomaterials.

Our ambition is clear: to lead the specialty food-ingredients industry by delivering sustainable, natural, and scientifically grounded solutions. BRIGHT 2030 is about sharpening our focus and accelerating innovation and growth where we can make the biggest impact, ensuring we continue to create value for our stakeholders and contribute positively to the world.

Financial ambitions for 2026–2028

On 20 November 2025, Corbion announced a financial update including medium-term financial targets for 2026-2028 under BRIGHT 2030. We commit to disciplined execution and profitable growth, targeting:

  • 3–6% organic sales growth per year

  • Adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 18% by 2028

  • Cumulative Free Cash Flow of € 270 million (3 years)