Givaudan first-half margins squeezed by raw materials, acquisitions

ZURICH (Reuters) - Givaudan beat first-half sales expectations on Thursday but margins at the Swiss fragrance and flavour maker shrank, knocking its shares.The maker of flavours for foods and drinks and fragrances for toothpaste and perfumes has benefited as big consumer goods companies try to innovate faster and use more natural ingredients.But raw material costs, and lower margins from recently acquired Naturex, cut its gross margins to 41.2% from 44.2% a year earlier.Givaudan shares were..