Basic HTML Version
The Textile Magazine
JUly 2012
|
103
corporate news
The Swiss specialty chemicals
company Clariant will continue to
consistently implement its profit-
able growth strategy during the next
three years, as announced by CEO
Hariolf Kottmann and CFO Patrick
Jany at this year’s Capital Markets
& Media Day held in Munich. The
goal is, amongst others, to increase
the company’s EBITDA margin
from 13.2 per cent in 2011 to above
17 per cent in 2015 and to achieve
a return on invested capital (ROIC)
above the peer group average. Clar-
iant will in future generate more
than 70 per cent of its sales with
core non-cyclical business units.
In order to achieve these goals,
considerable progress has to be
made in all four strategic directions.
Within the existing business units
(BUs), a further profitability in-
crease is planned through perform-
ance management and functional
excellence measures. Successful
innovations will generate new
growth opportunities, as demon-
strated already by the new products
of the company such as ExolitR, a
successful flame retardant, or Life
PowerR, a high-performance bat-
tery material. In addition, increased
market shares in emerging markets
such as China, India and Brazil will
further boost profitable growth.
An active portfolio management
will play an important role on the
path to a sustainably profitable
company. As already announced,
with the publication of the 2011
full year results, Clariant will
sustainably increase the quality and
performance of its product port-
folio. In this context, it is evalu-
ating strategic options for BUs,
Textile Chemicals, Paper Special-
ties, Emulsions and Detergents &
Intermediates. These options are
planned to be implemented during
the next 18 months.
Mr. Hariolf Kottmann observed:
“We will implement these portfolio
management measures with the
same speed and determination as
that of our activities in the restruc-
turing phase. They are an important
pre-requisite for reaching our tar-
gets by 2015. At that point, a newly
aligned Clariant will be even more
profitable and will generate more
than 70 per cent of its sales from
non-cyclical business units. The
acquisition of Süd-Chemie marked
a first milestone in this process. We
will continue this success story in
the next few years.”
The acquisition of Süd-Chemie
was an important first step for Clar-
iant. Already in 2011 the former
Süd-Chemie businesses contributed
significantly to the company’s re-
sults. Until end 2013, an additional
EBITDA improvement of CHF 90-
115 million is expected from syner-
gies resulting from the integration.
The transaction will be accretive
in 2013, i.e., in the second year
after the acquisition. In addition,
the transaction was fully refinanced
within less than 12 months.
w
Mr. Hariolf Kottmann, CEO, Clariant