(Recasts with EBITDA margin outlook and shares, adds CEO and analyst quotes in paragraphs 4-6, details on sales in 9-10)

March 6 (Reuters) - Symrise said on Wednesday it expects its core profit margin to grow to 20% in 2024 as the German flavour and fragrance maker carries out a cost management programme in a tough economic environment, sending its shares up more than 4%.

Chemical companies have been under pressure for more than a year as they were forced to reduce inventories on lower demand from industrial clients.

Symrise, whose fragrances go into the perfumes of French luxury giants LVMH and Kering, reported a core profit (EBITDA) margin of 19.1% for 2023, in line with the guidance it last cut in December.

"Our outlook for 2024 is optimistic", CEO Heinz-Jürgen Bertram said in a statement.

The shares rose 4.6% to 101 euros at 0855 GMT.

"After December's profit warning, this guidance is a relief and it is reassuring investors, although the company rather prefers to stay on the cautious side as the economic uncertainty is still pretty high," Vontobel analyst Arben Hasanaj said.

Full-year adjusted EBITDA of 903.5 million euros ($981.9 million) came in below analysts' forecast of 916.0 million, a poll provided by the company showed.

The group recorded one-time costs of 51.8 million euros during the year due to a production stoppage at its Colonel Island plant and expenses associated with the European Union's antitrust investigation.

Its like-for-like sales rose by 7.9% in 2023, mainly driven by the pet food division.

Organic sales also rose in the Scent and Care segment, but at a slower pace of 5.6% as inventory reductions dampened demand for fragrance ingredients.

Swiss peer Givaudan said in January sales volumes were stabilizing after destocking trends began to normalise towards the end of 2023.

Symrise said it would propose an annual dividend of 1.10 euros per share, up from 1.05 euros a year earlier. ($1 = 0.9201 euros) (Reporting by Matteo Allievi and Jagoda Darlak in Gdansk; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Milla Nissi)