-- Specialty chemicals company LANXESS continued on a path of growth in 2011, with record sales and earnings figures. Thanks to the Group's price-before-volume strategy, successful acquisitions and focus on the emerging markets, sales climbed by 23 percent to EUR 8,775 million.
In India too, sales grew from INR 1090.5 cr in 2010 to INR 1464.2 cr in 2011, reflecting an impressive growth of around 32.3%. On this occasion, Mr. Venkatesh Sankaran, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer, LANXESS India said, "We are delighted that we are achieving a consistently good growth in India, despite uncertain global economic conditions. In the Performance Polymers Segment, business units, Performance Butadiene Rubbers (PBR) has emerged the strongest, followed by Technical Rubber Products (TRP). High growth was also seen for Semi crystalline products (SCP). This is a very healthy indicator of the growing user industries such as automobiles, tires, electrical and electronics that has kept the demand buoyant. The Performance Chemicals segment, led by Rubber Chemicals (RUC) also grew remarkably well. This segment caters to a range of industries like leather, agro chemicals, pharmaceuticals, paints and coatings, industrial applications among others."
The growth of business units PBR, SCP and RUC confirms that the automobile industry in India continues to grow and will demand better performance and technology as the focus on fuel efficiency, safety and comfort increases.
Dr. Joerg Strassburger, Managing Director and Country Representative added, "Our global network, focused strategy and the growing market in India are contributing to our year-on-year success story here in India. We are optimistic that we will continue to post good rates of growth in an environment of opportunity."
Globally, EBITDA pre exceptionals improved by 25 percent to EUR 1,146 million, exceeding EUR 1 billion for the first time. The EBITDA margin pre exceptionals came in at 13.1 percent, compared with 12.9 percent the year before. Net income rose disproportionately compared with sales and EBITDA pre exceptionals, improving by one third from the previous year to EUR 506 million.
"Following last year's record earnings, LANXESS got off to a promising start in 2012. We expect to post EBITDA pre exceptionals of between EUR 330 million and EUR 350 million in the first quarter. That means we will exceed the record set in the same period of last year," said LANXESS CEO Axel C. Heitmann at the Annual Press Conference. "Our plans for continued growth are founded on innovations and technologies that serve the global megatrends, especially mobility - with the primary focus on solutions for sustainable mobility".
In 2011, LANXESS achieved sales of some EUR 1.5 billion - around 17 percent of total sales - with products and technologies for "Green Mobility." "We plan to boost this figure by 80 percent to about EUR 2.7 billion by 2015," said Heitmann.
Notes to Editor
About LANXESS
LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 8.8 billion in 2011 and currently around 16,500 employees in 30 countries. The company is at present represented at 48 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals. LANXESS is a member of the leading sustainable indices Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World and FTSE4Good.
About LANXESS:LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 8.8 billion in 2011 and currently around 16,500 employees in 30 countries. The company is at present represented at 48 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals. LANXESS is a member of the leading sustainable indices Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World and FTSE4Good.