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Strong demand in Asia/Pacific boosts Cognis textile

23 Aug '07

4 min read

Outlook:
“We expect to achieve further growth in sales and earnings in the second half of the year,” says Antonio Trius. “The good results achieved in July show that we could partly make up for the higher raw material costs and give us particular reason to look ahead to the rest of 2007 with confidence.”

Process Chemicals posted sales of 135 million euros adjusted for currency effects, a plus of 3.2 percent compared to the first half of 2006 (130 million euros, same level as 2006). The textiles segment continued to benefit from strong demand for our products in the Asia/Pacific region. The result shows that the business could successfully hold ground against the intense competitive pressures in the markets. Since July 1, the former Process Chemicals SBU has been trading independently as Pulcra Chemicals, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cognis.

Sales by strategic business unit (SBU):
Exluding currency effects, sales went up 6.9 percent to 728 million euros at Care Chemicals, Cognis' largest SBU (including currency effects: up 5.2 percent to 717 million euros).

The main drivers of this were the continuing increase in sales of innovative specialties, and strong sales of primary surfactants and silicates. Fatty alcohol sales remained under pressure, due to the intense competition in this market. Selling price increases to counter higher raw material cost could be achieved successfully.

Nutrition & Health recorded sales of 174 million euros, a 6.2 percent rise on the first half year of 2006 on a comparable currency basis (up 4.1 percent to 171 million euros).

The growth was largely attributable to products for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, and the carotenoids (antioxidants) and vitamin E businesses. Sales of branded ingredients like sterol esters and CLA have slightly slowed down.

Functional Products achieved growth of 7.8 percent, with total sales of 465 million euros excluding currency effects (up 3.9 percent to 448 million euros). This result shows the benefits of previous restructuring activities and a successful sales strategy.

Adding to this performance were stronger global demand for agrochemical solutions and in the mining technology sector. The sales of the polymers, coatings, and inks business were affected by a slowdown in the US housing and construction market.

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