Clariant sales up despite weaker performance in EU

Swiss chemical giant Clariant says sales increased 6% in Swiss francs to CHF 1.98bn (€1.65bn) in the second quarter, despite a weak performance in southern Europe.

The cyclical businesses were impacted by lower volumes, leading to a volume decline of 1%, but volumes sequentially grew 2% compared to the last quarter.

At the regional level, Asia Pacific and Latin American outperformed other regions, with sales growth of 18% and 17%, respectively. Growth in the EMEA region (North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa) grew in the low to mid-single digit range.

Q2 ebitda was down 3% to CHF 233m (€194m) from CHF 241m (€201m) in the same quarter in 2011, but net income was up to CHF 70m from CHF 40m.

For the first half of the year, sales were up 13% to CHF 3.6bn (€3bn). Ebtda was down 4%to CHF 518m (€431m).

“In the first half of 2012 Clariant delivered a solid performance as expected at the beginning of the year, driven by good growth in the non-cyclical part of the portfolio, offsetting lower volumes in the more cyclical businesses,” CEO Hariolf Koffmann said in a statement.

“While the future path of the global economy is tainted with a high degree of uncertainty, we continue to implement our strategy.”

The company said it expected to see increasing profitability in the second half of 2012.

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