Clariant continues to grow in sales and profitability in the first nine months of 2016

"Clariant continues to grow both, sales and profitability in the first nine month of 2016,” said CEO Hariolf Kottmann. "The good performance reflects our excellent execution of our strategy in all our businesses to foster growth and improve returns despite the continued challenging economic environment. The advancement in the current year results from our focus on innovation by delivering more added value to our customers as well as continued cost discipline. The differentiated business steering in Plastics & Coatings continued to positively impact the profitability improvement. We are therefore on track to achieve our targets for the full year 2016.”

Nine Months 2016 – Further increase in sales and profitability
Clariant announced nine months 2016 sales of CHF4.299bn compared to CHF4.281bn in 2015. This corresponds to a 2% growth in local currency driven by higher volumes.
Growth was strongest in Latin America, where sales grew by 7% in local currency. In the Middle East & Africa, yr-on-yr sales were up 3% in local currency. North America saw a decline of 3% stemming from a lower demand in catalysis and natural resources, while Asia grew at 4% supported by a pick-up in China and Europe at a stable 1% driven by volume increases.
The improved business performance in the first nine months primarily stemmed from higher growth in Care Chemicals and Plastics & Coatings. In Care Chemicals, sales in local currency increased by 5% to CHF1.087M. Sales in Catalysis declined by 8% in local currency reaching CHF442M, due to a lower demand, particularly in North America, which had a high comparable base against the previous year, as well as due to continued soft demand in Asia.
Sales in Natural Resources were stable in local currency and amounted to CHF839M despite the very difficult industry environment. There was a slight decline in Oil and Mining Services, whereas Functional Minerals continued to grow. In Plastics & Coatings, sales in local currency grew by 5% to CHF1.931bn. The good sales performance in Plastics & Coatings was seen across all regions.
The EBITDA before exceptional items rose by 5% in local currency and reached CHF652M, compared to CHF624M in the previous year. The major contributor to the profitability improvement was Plastics & Coatings.
The corresponding EBITDA margin before exceptional items of 15.2% was significantly above the previous year’s level of 14.6%. Plastics & Coatings and Natural Resources substantially improved EBITDA margins before exceptional items year-on-year. Catalysis was below the previous year’s level largely due to a weaker demand as some customers further delayed certain projects as well as portfolio mix effects.

Q3 2016 – Maintained progress in margin expansion
In Q3 of 2016, sales grew by 2% in local currency to CHF1.400bn. Volumes were up by 3% yr-on-yr.
On a regional level, sales growth was led by Asia, which recorded an increase of 8 % in local currency reflecting the improvement in China. Latin America grew 2% in local currency. In the Middle East & Africa, sales declined by 4% in local currency year-on-year and in North America by 5%, stemming from the challenging business environment in Catalysis and Natural Resources. Europe grew at a stable 1%, driven by volume increases.
Care Chemicals delivered sales of CHF337M with a local currency sales growth of 4%. In Plastics & Coatings, sales rose by 3% in local currency to CHF624M, reflecting the good sales performance in each of the three businesses, Masterbatches, Pigments and Additives. Sales in Natural Resources were CHF282m up 1% in local currency. Catalysis sales were lower by 8% in local currency at CHF157M primarily due to a lower demand in North America.

EBITDA before exceptional items was CHF208M versus CHF207M yr-on-yr.
The EBITDA margin before exceptional items increased by 20 basis points to 14.9% in the third quarter primarily driven by Plastics & Coatings which continued to see the positive impact from the differentiated business steering.

Outlook – remains unchanged
Clariant expects the uncertain environment, characterized by a high volatility in commodity prices and currencies, to continue. In emerging markets, we anticipate the economic environment to remain challenging and with increased volatility; we expect moderate growth in the USA, while growth in Europe is expected to remain stable but weak.
For 2016, in spite of the increasingly challenging economic environment, Clariant is confident to achieve growth in local currency, as well as progression in operating cash flow and EBITDA margin before exceptional items.
Clariant confirms its mid-term target of reaching a position in the top tier of the specialty chemicals industry. This corresponds to an EBITDA margin before exceptional items in the range of 16% to 19% and a return on invested capital (ROIC) above the peer group average.