Hello everyone, and thank you for joining us. As you might have noticed, there are two press releases out today. One on the sale of DSM Engineering Materials, and the second on the merger of DSM and Firmenich, which is the focus of today's call. Now, that press release and the accompanying presentation are all on the joint transaction website. In those documents, you'll also find the legal disclaimers which you briefly saw a few moments ago. I encourage you to read those, please. Joining us today, we have the DSM co-CEOs, Geraldine Matchett and Dimitri de Vreeze, as well as Gilbert Ghostine, the CEO of Firmenich. They're gonna cover three key areas this morning. A brief reminder about each of these iconic companies, the strategic rationale for bringing them together, and the financial details and aspirations of DSM-Firmenich as a combined entity.
We're gonna try and keep it concise so there's plenty of time for your questions at the end. You may want to ask the CEO something, so please make sure you've also registered for the audio conference link that's on the press release and on the various websites too. First, I'd like to invite Geraldine Matchett, the Co-CEO of DSM, to introduce today's news.
Thank you very much, Gareth, and, good morning to everyone. There we are. I think I'm live, which is good. Just two words, who am I? Well, for the last two years, I've had a pleasure of co-leading DSM with Dimitri, and before that, I joined DSM in 2014 as the CFO of the company. Now, this is a very special day in many respects, and among others, the fact that normally when two companies get together, you get to hear about, you know, from two CEOs. Well, in this case, it's gonna be three, and it's my pleasure to be the first one to speak this morning. And as you said correctly, Gareth, two press releases, but here, obviously, the focus is on the merger. This slide shows you in two words what this is all about.
This merger is about bringing two iconic companies together and creating an industry leader. Now, on the one hand, you have DSM. DSM, obviously, a very strong inventor in the health nutrition bioscience space, and Firmenich, the creator in the fragrance and taste space. You put those together, and you will have a new co, because this is truly gonna be a merger of equals, called DSM-Firmenich. Now, both companies have a deep root in science. This is what has been underpinning our growth momentum consistently over the years. We also have a very common set of values and a purpose-led approach to running our companies. So, not only is this merger gonna be a very exciting story for shareholders, it's gonna be a very exciting story for all the stakeholders, creating an industry leader, in particular in nutrition and beauty and in wellbeing.
But before we go into the new co, DSM-Firmenich, let's first do a quick recap on these two companies that have century-old history and heritage in science. For this, I hand over to you, Gilbert.
Thank you very much, Geraldine. Good morning, everyone, and I'm extremely excited to be joining Geraldine and Dimitri, you know, this morning to share with you how excited we are and how proud we are to putting together two iconic companies to create the leading creation and innovation partner for beauty, nutrition, and wellbeing. Now, to give you a quick background on me, you know, I have been the CEO for Firmenich for the last eight years. I'm the first non-family CEO in the history of 127 years for Firmenich, and prior to that, I worked for 21 years for Diageo, the world leader in beverage alcohol. Now, let me move you a little bit into the world of Firmenich. Firmenich is the hidden jewel of the fragrance and taste industry.
It's the world's largest privately-owned fragrance and taste company, and a pioneer in our industry, having been founded in Geneva 127 years ago. We are here today because our shareholders, who have been long-term visionaries about our industry, have recognized that they must open up their capital if we are to continue to lead. After very careful evaluation, we concluded that a merger with DSM, a highly complementary and like-minded company, will enable us to accelerate the delivery of our strategic ambition, creating greater value for all our shareholders. For those of you who didn't have the opportunity to get to know us before, you know, let me introduce you to the world of Firmenich. Our ingredients touch the lives of 4 billion consumers around the world daily.
The Firmenich brand is synonymous with excellence in innovation, pristine reputation, and intimacy with the world's highest quality customers. Our innovation enabled us to deliver a track record of attractive organic growth of 5% per annum since fiscal year 2013, while maintaining a strong profitability profile of 20% EBITDA margin lately. We are a leader in our industry, and specifically in Perfumery and Ingredients, with a very strong global Taste & Beyond business. We are a research-driven, innovation-led organization. Dedicating more resources to R&D as a percentage of revenue than any of our key competitors. We are a global player of scale, serving over 100 markets with around 10,000 colleagues and 47 manufacturing facilities around the world. We are defined by our values that are aligned with a strategic commitment to deliver long-term sustainable growth, and we lead the industry in responsible business.
Let me now turn to our business. We are a global leader in the fragrance and taste industry. Our perfumery and ingredients business contributes 2/3 of our revenues. We lead across all perfumery and ingredients segments. We are the number one in fine fragrance, and we partner with the perfumery customers to design and customize their unique fragrances. We are a global number two in the personal body and home care segments. We are the global number one in fragrance and taste ingredients with a broad portfolio that includes proprietary molecules and the world's leading portfolio of natural, renewable, and biodegradable ingredients. Our master perfumers and our master flavorists drive differentiation for customers through superior science, innovation, and local consumer insights. Our Taste & Beyond business represents 1/3 of our revenues.
We are a leading global player in taste with a great portfolio of products across all segments, sweet goods, beverages, and savory. Our global scale is a key advantage that we have developed over decades of partnerships with key customers around the world. Here I'm talking about global customers, regional customers, local customers, and key startups. As a company, we win with the winners. We have expanded our commercial reach by divesting and investing disproportionately behind new emerging categories, applying our innovation capabilities to build proprietary solutions and secure a leadership position on major structural mega trends. Just to mention a few, plant-based protein, we are an industry leader in this space. Sugar reduction, we have developed the most developed ecosystem in the industry, and we lead our industry in sugar reduction.
Last calendar year only, we removed 500 million tons of sugar from the products of our customers, and also we lead our industry in natural and clean label ingredients. We are well-positioned to capitalize on these structural growth trends in both developed and growth markets, and our revenues are split roughly evenly between the two. The U.S., China, and India are three of our top four markets globally, and we are recognized as a local company in each of these markets. As I shared with you already, we have a strong track record of innovation-driven growth underpinned by world-class science. We are a research-driven organization, and our relentless commitment to innovation is at the heart of our continued success.
We proudly carry the legacy of a Nobel Prize that we have received back in 1939, and today, we are honored to be the only fragrance and taste company recognized in the LexisNexis Global Top 100 Companies in the World for their innovation alongside the likes of Apple and Google, just to name a few. Our innovation is focused on addressing the structural trends that are driving growth in our industry, and we devote a larger portion of our revenues to R&D than any of our key competitors. We employ over 450 scientists around the world in six major R&D centers with a portfolio of over 4,000 live patents. We have a deep expertise in broad range of disciplines, and these include, you know, cellular biology, organic chemistry, sensory and, cognitive science, as well as biotechnology, among other expertise.
Leveraging the superior consumer insights that we have built around the year with our research supports our ability to develop creations and applications that delight consumers across both our Perfumery & Ingredients and Taste & Beyond businesses. Sustainability has been ingrained in our history and in our DNA as an organization, and we are extremely proud to be the clear leader in ESG in our industry. As you could see on this slide, we are a company that walks the talk on responsible business. This is a source of trust and differentiation for our customers, our investors, and all our stakeholders. Sustainalytics ranked us as leader in our industry and even the broader chemical sector, but also in the global top 50 companies of over 15,000 companies. We actually ranked number 37 with a rating, with a score of 7.5.
We are one of only two companies in the world to have received a triple A rating from CDP in climate, water and forests for the fourth year in a row. Since February 2020, we have run all our operations around the world on 100% renewable electricity, which is obviously an industry first. To wrap up, I'm excited that the legacy of Firmenich will carry on proudly in the creation of a new industry leader, DSM-Firmenich, that will continuously innovate for a better world. With that, I will hand it over to Dimitri.
Yes. Wow, Gilbert, your passion is heard and seen through. Thanks for that. What a fantastic company, and like you said, perhaps Firmenich being a hidden jewel, after this, I would say hidden jewel no more. I will explain a little bit about DSM, but very briefly, because most of you know who DSM is and the transformation, but just to complete the story before we move to this fantastic combination of DSM and Firmenich. This is a little bit our transformation as a DSM company. A rich heritage, adapting to opportunities provided from coal mining through to nutrition, nicely anchored in science, and you see that on the left-hand side, where we have shifted more into a company of health, nutrition and biosciences.
Also importantly, as Geraldine alluded to it in the start, we have found a new home for our third material business, and that finalizes that transition for all three fantastic materials businesses to find a new home, and therefore creating space for us to accelerate our journey into a leader of health, nutrition and biosciences. We are positioned in highly attractive markets, you see that on the right-hand side, with differentiation possibilities, and the strategy, as we have laid out, has been translated in financial returns, and we have outperformed the sector. This is not only a company for today, we're also building the company for the future. We have a very strong innovation pipeline coming through, and this will drive profits and sales for health for people, health for planet, and healthy livelihoods.
This is yet again underpinned by ambitious growth targets, which we have been delivering against, year on year on. If we then take DSM together with Firmenich, this is, like Gilbert was saying, a leader in this space. I would say even an unparalleled leader in that space. It is combining two iconic companies, two great companies merging together, leveraging their strength into DSM-Firmenich. Let me explain a little bit what we're trying to achieve by bringing these two iconic companies together. DSM being an innovator in health and nutrition, and Firmenich being a creator in perfumery and ingredients. That, too, bringing together means that we create a leader in the nutrition, beauty, and well-being space. The outcome is that we are well prepared and well positioned alongside four fantastic businesses, and you see that on the right-hand side.
All these businesses will be powered by digital-enabled business models with science at its core. We today have the global capability in the combination to meet the needs of our customers, not only globally, but also locally. Just to mention a few of these numbers. We have 40 creation centers at DSM-Firmenich. We have 78 application labs, 70 premix sites around the globe, combined with vertical integration from a solid purchasing network through to 88 manufacturing sites around the world. Recent disruptive events in supply chain have shown that it's important that you create that credibility and reliability of supply. With that, we are creating a company that is very passionate for their people, care about their people, and will also nurture the talent of diverse people who wants to work for this fantastic company. We give a bit of color on these four businesses.
If you go to the next slide. The DSM-Firmenich combination will have four business groups. Let me talk you through those four complementary businesses a little bit. We start with Perfumery and Beauty. This is continuing the strong leadership position in perfumery, combined with DSM's Personal Care and Aroma business. This will open up further opportunities to grow this business in beauty. Combined, this will be a EUR 3.3 billion business. We'll have Food and Beverages merged with Taste and Beyond. This will undergo the biggest transformation with both parties. DSM's Food and Beverage and Firmenich's Taste and Beyond businesses will add to a EUR 2.7 billion business as a business group. This will be all about providing delicious, nutritious, and sustainable products.
Health, Nutrition & Care will continue to focus with that business to keep the world's growing population healthy. Animal Nutrition & Health will continue to focus on providing sustainable and affordable animal protein solutions for a growing population. As you know, animal protein is a critical part of a healthy diet, and therefore key to our overall mission of nutrition, beauty, and well-being. One slide to depict a little bit the importance of the science leader, which we are. A science leader with complementary capabilities. I want to focus on creation and innovation for a moment. Over 2,000 employees in science and innovation across 15 R&D facilities, leveraging a portfolio of more than 2,600 patent families. Both companies run successful R&D programs to address the most pressing needs of consumers and society with transformational innovations.
As DSM-Firmenich, we will continue our commitment to innovation. We'll build and continue to have a pipeline, a full pipeline, and this is supported by EUR 700 million of an annual research and development budget. A company that will deliver future breakthroughs and captures the value of innovation from discovery throughout commercializations. These four businesses, as I've described earlier, can only be successful because of the strong share-based science. The science is melding this together, as well as the supply chain, as I've indicated. We will be there when it matters. Highly excellent global support functions. This, in combination with the four businesses, will create a truly unique competitive advantage for us as DSM-Firmenich. Let me finish the DSM-Firmenich setup a little bit with our full commitment to people and planet, our purpose. I think Gilbert already alluded to it.
Firmenich is definitely a leader in that field, and DSM prides itself also to be fully leading that field. Together, that is even stronger. These are highly culturally aligned businesses driven by purpose to deliver a positive and measurable impact for people, climate, and nature. People will deliver DSM-Firmenich's success above everything else. We've seen this in discussions over the last month, and we've also shown purpose is a major driver for the engagement of all our people across these two companies. With that, I would like to give it back to Geraldine to give some insights on the financials and some governance aspects. Geraldine.
There we go. Unmuted is better. Thanks, Dimitri. I'm very conscious of the fact that there's a lot of things to absorb in our communication of this morning, including a rather lengthy press release. Let me give you just a few of the key information, firstly on the finance and then a bit on the governance, and then I promise, Gareth, we're gonna keep time for Q&A. Firstly, the financials, and I'm gonna use this slide very briefly. On the left side, you've seen the businesses. Dimitri just talked about it. If you take the pro forma 2021, if you put the two companies together, just aggregate them, this makes a new co, DSM-Firmenich, with EUR 11.4 billion of sales, sizable scale company delivering EUR 2.2 billion in EBITDA.
Now, it's not only that, it's gonna be a company that has a very strong history of cash generation. By putting the company together as a true merger of equals into a new co, we will be securing a very strong balance sheet as well, going forward. It's a company that will broadly have a very similar tax rate as DSM of today. That is really bringing the two companies side by side, if you want. If you look at the right-hand side of the slide, this is what can we expect from a financial performance of not only two great companies coming together with a strong track record, but also creating a space for really sizable synergies. Here you will have noticed in the press release two kinds of synergies, top-line synergies, cost synergies.
In top line, we can give you a lot of examples. We spent most of our time in the discussions over the last weeks and months going into the business, the market trends, and how does combining our capabilities lead us to effectively being much better at addressing our customers' needs and, importantly, the consumers' needs. Anyway, all in all, we're seeing a top-line synergy of about EUR 500 million. It'll take a few years to get there, three, four years. Depends a bit, of course, in which parts of the business. Interestingly, not only in Food & Beverage, this is true for HNC and for the Perfumery & Beauty part. A very exciting top-line synergy, so it's a growth story. But of course, you bring two companies together, you're gonna have also some cost efficiencies.
Together, these two bring us to EUR 350 million of synergy value over time for this new co. Now, that translates in shareholder terms to a very nice double-digit EPS accretion in terms of value creation. Here we're very confident that this is a very interesting and exciting day for our shareholders, for sure.
These are the key messages in terms of the financials, and, you know, I can come back on any others if you have specific questions. Let me use my last couple of minutes here to talk a little bit about governance. Now, what you will have seen is that this deal is a true merger of equals, and it will be a share exchange that will happen, DSM shares into DSM-Firmenich shares, and the contribution of the Firmenich Company into this newco in exchange for DSM-Firmenich shares predominantly as well, and a bit of cash with EUR 3.5 billion there. Now, this is truly a merger of equals, and what do we mean by that?
Well, the board of directors is gonna be made up of people coming from both sides, really making sure that we hang on to the knowledge and the legacy of both companies because it's all very valuable to the future of our company. We're also gonna have a leadership team which is gonna be very balanced, reflecting the deep pool of talents coming from both sides. Now, Dimitri and I are honored that we will be taking over as co-CEOs, and we'll be communicating the rest of the team in due course. But we can already share today that Emmanuel Butstraen will be actually leading the integration, and he comes from Firmenich. That makes us very excited because we want this to be a true merger, reflecting our cultures and the spirit of both organizations going forward.
A very strong, competent board of directors, a very experienced and balanced leadership team, bringing effectively together a company that will be domiciled in Switzerland with a dual headquarters, partly in Switzerland, partly in the Netherlands, and a company listed on the Euronext in Amsterdam. A really nice Swiss-Dutch global company that we are shaping for today. Now, these are really the biggest highlights. There's a lot that I could say more, but I can see already Gareth looking at me saying, "We need to open up to the Q&A." Let me just maybe basically say how excited we are that we are putting this company together today and announcing this to the world. With no further ado, why don't we open the Q&A, Gareth?
Thanks, Geraldine. Everyone, as I said in the introduction, those of you who want to ask questions, you do need to register via the audio conference link first, which you can find in the press release as well as on the transaction website. Once you've done that, in order to ask a question, please press star one. If you haven't registered yet, you've still got time, so please do so. Now, everyone else, of course, you're welcome to listen to this session as you are already through the video conference. Now, before we start, please be aware there might be a bit of a delay between the Q&A audio and the live broadcast, so just keep that in mind. I would also ask if you could just stick to two questions, please, just to give everyone a chance to speak.
Operator, could you please let us have the first question?
Thank you, Gareth. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to request the Q&A participants to dial star one for questions. Please go ahead. The first question is from Mr. Dominik Seli, RBC. Your line is open. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you. Good morning. I was wondering, you know, I mean, this is obviously an increasingly consolidated industry. I mean, has Firmenich become sort of too small really to excel on its own? Related to this, I mean, does the company maybe also have a succession problem in its family? If you allow me a second question, about the cost synergies. I mean, can you maybe elaborate a bit on where they will be realized? Thank you.
Thank you, Dominic, and thank you so much for joining us on the call today. I think I'm gonna ask Gilbert to address the first point with regard to Firmenich. Then maybe, Geraldine, you can come on the back with the synergies question. Gilbert?
Yes. Thank you, Gareth. Dominic, I want to thank you for asking this question. I think it's important to step back and to share with you how does the governance of Firmenich operate today. You know, when you look at Firmenich, you know, Firmenich, it is true that, you know, we are 100% privately owned company today. At the same time, when you look at our governance, you know, we always operated with the governance of listed or quoted companies. Our shareholders, who own 100% of the company, are a minority on our board. We have a board of nine directors. Our shareholders are four on the board, and we have five independents.
At the same time, when you look at the executive committee, you know, we have seven different nationalities on the executive committee driven by meritocracy, but we don't have any family member on the exec. So the family, the Firmenich family has always had great governance and has always operated at the highest international standards. Now, we don't have a succession issue. The Firmenich family decided, you know, eight years ago that they want to bring a non family CEO to run the company, and we have a very good pipeline of talent that could have taken over from me, you know, when I was planning to retire next year.
The Firmenich shareholders have always put the interest of the company and the interest of our customers first, and that's why they have realized that they are at a stage where they want to open up the capital in order to be able to ensure perpetuity for the enterprise and, at the same time, you know, participate and create, you know, this powerhouse.
Of science and of innovation in our industry to better service our customers. Our company has operated well. You know, we have been successful over the years, as it is reflected by the performance that we have already shared with you, and we are extremely excited that we are joining forces with DSM in this merger of equals to continue this exciting journey together.
Thank you Gilbert. Let me maybe take the synergy question, and I was just looking at the deck. You'll find quite a few slides around page 30 on the makeup of the synergies. Really in two words, we see about 50%-60% of the synergy value will come from growth, from sales, from bringing our capabilities together, and an ability to really address consumer and customer needs a lot better. Now, when it comes to the cost synergies, there's really two layers. Firstly, there's a cost element in terms of end-to-end supply chain, and here I mean, for example, direct and indirect sourcing. The larger the organization, the more you can have economies of scale in your relationship. That's one example, but there are many.
Of course, when you bring two companies together, we are gonna be able to have some operational efficiencies coming through this. For the sake of clarity, we really don't see this as being driven by big redundancies at all. In fact, it will be pretty limited. There will be some changes in roles of course, as we reshape the new DSM-Firmenich company. Predominantly, it's going to be about running this in an extremely good way, and extracting the value that being a larger organization brings. I hope this gives you a bit more clarity on the synergies. Back to you, Gareth.
Thank you, Geraldine, and thank you Dominic for your question. Operator, can we have the next question, please?
The next question is from Mr. Andrew Tully, Chemical & Engineering News. Your line is open. Please go ahead, sir.
Hi, good morning, everyone, and thanks for taking my questions. The first one is, obviously DSM went for DuPont, N&B, and I'm just wondering how much of a reaction this is to IFF enlargement. I'm curious to know sort of how this deal came about. You've spoken about it being a combination of two iconic companies. I'm hoping you can provide some color on who approached who, and you know, if you like pizza late into the night or perhaps carrot and hummus perhaps for DSM. That's the first question. The second question would be around the leadership. You know, you said it's a true merger. The leadership team looks pretty DSM heavy. I mean, at the moment it's just Dimitri and Geraldine, right?
I'm just wondering how that sort of will develop going forward. Thank you.
Andrew, thanks very much for your questions and great to hear from you. If you don't mind, I'm gonna flip those in reverse, 'cause Geraldine did briefly touch upon the fact that we also have a chief integration officer that we mentioned today. Maybe if Geraldine, you could address the executive balance that Andrew was asking about. The broader question about how did this come about? I think that's an open question to any of the three of you who would like to have a conversation about that. Geraldine?
Yeah, with pleasure indeed. I probably rattled it a little bit fast earlier, but this is gonna be a truly balanced executive leadership team, going forward. Now, like happens actually pretty normally at this point in the process, we only mention the top leadership as in the co-CEOs, so Dimitri and myself. I think Gilbert very, very well explained that there was full succession on the Firmenich side. When two companies come together, of course, at some point, there are choices to be made. Now, we will communicate the full leadership team in due course, and you will see that that is gonna be very balanced. We truly see this as a merger where we wanna preserve and tap in to the talent of both organizations. Expect to see here a DSM-Firmenich made up of the talents coming from all sides.
That's really it may not look like it today, and please don't forget that we're also announcing today Emmanuel Butstraen, who is currently the business lead on the flavor side and taste, and he will actually lead the integration of the two companies into this DSM-Firmenich company. That is also deliberately there to ensure that we're gonna have a very good, fair, and balanced process to extract, you know, the best of two iconic companies, as you correctly said. Let me see which of my colleagues would like to talk to the how did this come about and maybe a little bit why now. Gilbert Ghostine or Dimitri de Vreeze?
I'm happy.
Gilbert can go.
Go ahead, Dimi. Go ahead, Dimitri.
Yeah.
Well, this is the bad thing about having three CEOs at the same call, so we need to align that a little bit. Building on it, I think first of all, I wanna reemphasize, going back to the first question, size. In this setup, in this world, size is not the key denominator. It is the capabilities. I think Gilbert said it well, a powerhouse of science. There you need to have the capability, and that's the driving force of this merger. That to start and kick off with. Secondly, both companies have their own strategy, their own fantastic performance over the last year. This is a choice out of strength. This is not linked to what's happening in the industry, with all players doing all types of stuff.
This is something where we strongly believe in from a macro environment that the world needs to have products which anticipate and address the needs of conscious consumers who prioritize sustainability, health, and well-being. That is something where the combination of these in Firmenich is absolutely well positioned for. By combining the health and nutrition capabilities of DSM and the flavor and fragrance capability of Firmenich, we have a unique proposition. That is something where we really strive for. We do that in a merger because we need to build on each other's strength, and I think that's important to know. In terms of process, it's an interesting question.
You know that the most beautiful things which will happen in life are sometimes organic and natural and go in a flow, and then the best things come out of it. That's exactly how it went with DSM and Firmenich.
Oh, okay. Can I come back at all?
Go on, Andrew, if you're quick.
Okay. Just to Gilbert, I mean, you said it's time to open up the capital. I just, you know, in this day and age, you could have made a bomb doing an IPO.
Andrew, it's a very good question. You know, we have looked at the option of the IPO and, you know, we were contemplating this. You know, we found this win-win combination with DSM far more powerful because, you know, this is a significant, you know, leap forward in the industry in which we operate today. At the same time, you know, with this powerful combination, you know, we will be able to service our customers and the consumer needs that Dimitri has just mentioned in a more powerful and agile and faster and bigger way.
Thank you very much.
Yeah. Thank you, Andrew.
Gilbert, for that. Thank you, Andrew, for your questions. Operator, can we have the next question, please?
The next question is from Mr. Daniel Zulauf CH Media. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. Can I ask you a few simple figures on your production facilities, the main sites? As far as I understand, the headquarters of nutrition of DSM is in Switzerland. Headquarters of Firmenich is in Geneva. What is this merger going to mean for employment situation in Switzerland? That's my first question. The second one is about Firmenich in the past, the competitors of Firmenich like Givaudan, they have expanded quite quickly and International Flavors & Fragrances as well. They have expanded quite quickly through mergers and acquisitions over the last years or so.
I have the impression that Firmenich was more hesitant in terms of acquiring other flavors and fragrances companies, and now is in a situation where the market is basically bought up and you therefore are in a position to diversify your business more into this nutrition space, which is to me one motive to do this merger. Maybe you can comment on that.
Daniel, thank you very much for your question. I think I'm gonna ask Dimitri to talk a little bit about the scale of the operations and the business that we will have, both in terms of our headquarters and our science capabilities in a moment. Gilbert, perhaps first you would like to address the question from Daniel regarding the market and the movement that's been happening that Daniel identified.
Yeah. Daniel, thank you very much for your question. Just to put things in context, you are right that our industry is consolidating, and there have been 65 acquisitions that happened in our industry over the last four years. Just to make it clear, Firmenich has been active in the consolidation of the industry, and Firmenich has secured 14 acquisitions over the last five years. We have been active in this space and, you know, we have been very clearly focused on the opportunities that we wanted. Now, let me comment on the manufacturing facilities that we have around the world and Geneva before handing it over to Dimitri de Vreeze. For Firmenich, we have 47 manufacturing facilities all over the world. Our number one country in the world is the U.S. Our second biggest country in the world is France.
Our third biggest country in the world is China. Our fourth country in the world is India. We have many manufacturing facilities in every one of these markets. When we go to Geneva, in Geneva, we have three manufacturing facilities, one for ingredients, one for flavors, and one for perfumery, and these manufacturing facilities are planning to continue in the new partnership of DSM-Firmenich.
Thank you, Ghostine.
Thank you.
Dimitri, would you like to pick that up?
No, I think Ghostine said it well. I mean, basically we're gonna use the strength of our infrastructure of both companies to create credible and reliable supply to our customers. Certainly, what we've seen over the last two, three years, that absolutely has a benefit to our customer, and I think both companies have shown fantastic agility in supplying that to their customers, and you should ask our customers on that. I think we'll get a big complement in these insecure times, and if we merge our infrastructure together, I think we could even benefit from that.
Yeah.
Let me build a little bit on Dimitri's answer on this one, because Dimitri has already mentioned this when he was talking about 88 manufacturing facilities. Both Firmenich and DSM managed to ensure business continuity and regular supply at very high OTIF rate for our customers over the last two and a half years, and everyone knows, you know, how much the two and a half years have had disruptions in terms of logistics, raw materials, supply chains, et cetera. The customers with whom I spoke this morning, and I know it's the same from, for Dimitri and Geraldine, you know, have reacted extremely positively to the combination of our two companies together. They have told us this is bold, this is courageous, and this is definitely a partnership that we will feel nurturing with you for the future.
Thank you very much, Ghostine and Dimitri, and also for your questions, Daniel. Operator, we have time for one last quick question, and then we do unfortunately need to close this. Thank you everyone for your questions so far. Operator, do we have one last question? Operator, I think your line is mute, and I think Natalie had a question for us.
Seems we're struggling here, Gareth.
Technology let us down.
It's a real shame because I know we had a question coming in. I did want to try and make sure that we had enough time, but I think if we're unable to mute, I think we're gonna have to move on.
Let's promise Natalie to reply to her questions offline.
Yes. Absolutely. Indeed. I think we're gonna have to move on. Look, apologies for that, Natalie. We will speak to you straight away after this call. I'm sorry everyone, for those who didn't get a chance to ask your questions, 'cause it was great that you could join us, and we will make sure that we follow up with you all afterwards. This does bring us to the end of the Q&A session today. Thank you for joining us. Please reach out to any of either the agencies or the teams working at DSM or Firmenich. We'd be more than happy to help you over the rest of the day. For now, though, thank you very much and enjoy the rest of your day. Goodbye.
Thank you.