Croda International is one of those companies that seems to quietly get on with the business of turning a healthy profit and returning some of it to shareholders (Miles Costello writes). That’s not to say it hasn’t been busy. This year alone the specialist chemicals producer has made two acquisitions, one of them financed through a £600 million-plus placing. It also has landed a contract with Pfizer, the pharmaceuticals group, to provide non-active ingredients for its Covid-19 vaccine. Against the backdrop of the pandemic, the shares have performed creditably and it has held its interim dividend.
Enough said? Not quite. The coronavirus undoubtedly has put the dampeners on sales in two of its three core divisions, the shares don’t come cheap and the dividend yield
