• Sales in Q3 down
14% in local currency and 19% in CHF
• Operating income
before exceptional items decreased to CHF 107 million from CHF 178 million in
the third quarter 2008, but improved from CHF 69 million in the second quarter
2009
• Cash flow from
operations improved to CHF 193 million from CHF 147 million in the
previous-year period
• Net debt reduced to
CHF 751 million from CHF 1 209 million at year-end 2008
• Outlook: For the
full year 2009, Clariant expects sales in local currencies to decrease 16-20%
compared to 2008. Cash flow is expected to remain strong as a result of ongoing
stringent net working capital management. In the traditionally weak fourth
quarter, Clariant expects an improved operating income before exceptional items
compared to the fourth quarter of 2008
4 November 2009, Muttenz
- Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, has today announced sales of
CHF 1.691 billion in the third quarter, compared to CHF 2.094 billion during
the same period in the previous year. This represents a 19% decline in Swiss
Francs, and 14% in local currency.
Sales stabilized during the third quarter. Although there
was a modest pick up in some businesses and regions, overall demand remained at
low levels with no signs of a sustainable upward trend. Volumes declined by 11%
and prices were 3% lower compared to the third quarter 2008. Raw material costs
were 16% lower compared to the same period a year ago, but 1% higher compared
to the second quarter 2009. The costs of capacity underutilization were lower
than in the two previous quarters as a consequence of higher utilization rates,
the shutting down of plants and a reduction in workforce - either temporarily
or permanently.
Despite the pressure on volumes, Clariant maintained a
stringent focus on managing its gross margin which increased to 30.1% from
29.4% in the previous-year period.
CFO Patrick Jany commented: “While we have mitigated the
impact of the economic crisis on our gross profit, the risk of possible gross
margin erosions in the months to come has risen due to increasing raw material
costs. We will closely observe this unfavourable development and defend our
margin. If necessary, we are ready to deal with potential volume impacts by
further reducing production capacities.”
CEO Hariolf Kottmann commented: “The focus on improving cash
flow, decreasing costs and reducing complexity continued to have a positive
impact on our results. Sales declines of more than 20% in some businesses
indicate that despite stabilization in demand we are still far from a sustainable
recovery. In this environment, our cost savings have not yet been sufficient to
fully compensate for the demand weakness. As we need to close the performance
gap to our peers and as we don’t see a sustainable recovery in our industry in
the next quarters, we will continue to implement additional restructuring and
cost saving measures.”
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