Croda's new chief executive, Steve Foots, is focused on evolution not revolution at the speciality chemicals group.

You know the advert. The one with the pretty girl and the perfect lipstick. She (SNP: ^SHEY - news) flashes a naughty smile into the camera before flicking her sleek, glossy hair in a perfect swoosh.

Then the advertiser stakes its claim its shampoo, the one the pretty girl uses every day, makes a womans hair bouncier and glossier than ever. Its just about then that we all roll our eyes and quietly mutter under our breath.

Well, its time to stop being quite so cynical. Unless Ive been horribly hoodwinked, that claim hasnt just been made up by a bunch of sharp suited mad men.

You see, in a laboratory 20 miles from Doncaster, theres a man in a white coat. In front of him a false head of hair hangs on a metal wire attached to a rudimentary engine and a video camera. Hes filming that swoosh. Flicking the hair from side to side, treating it with the shampoos 'active ingredient and flicking it again. And there really is a difference.

This, to use the Croda vernacular, is claim substantiation. Thats what were about. Our job is to find the next big claim: to meet unknown needs, says Steve Foots, a relaxed 43-year old who is Crodas new chief executive. We dont really think about chemicals, we think about effect.

Its hardly what comes to mind when you think of a chemicals company with 3,200 staff and 17 factories that has just joined the FTSE 100 (Euronext: VFTSE.NX - news) . But at Croda HQ theres no sign of industrial sized tanks or hoses. The companys 1bn of annual revenues, Foots is keen to make clear, are built on value not volume. Some of its products are shipped to clients in test-tubes, others make up just 0.1pc of your average shampoo bottle. This is the world of speciality chemicals.

The companys customers across consumer care, healthcare and cropcare range from Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG - news) and Unilever (Other OTC: UNLNF.PK - news) to fertiliser makers and engine manufacturers. The focus is on providing chemicals to make products work better. Anything from face cream to engine oil lubricant.

Croda makes the building blocks for health and personal care items such as lipstick

Crodas strategy has seen it hone in on such niche areas, allowing it to raise profit margins with each new product iteration. A product tweak, a new hair straightening claim and the customer pays up. That approach has allowed Croda to increase margins in consumer care to an eye-watering 32pc, provoking consternation among analysts. They have all of these boffins working away, continually improving products and were all left rubbing our eyes in wonder, says Charles Pick, an analyst at Numis. The big question around Croda is where the margin ceiling is.

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Steve Foots: Croda's man with the chemistry for success