Company News

Lanxess posts optimistic results
Stating that its second quarter was proceeding “very well” and that it has passed the “economic stress test”, speciality chemicals company Lanxess is focusing on China, India and Brazil and is putting in more capital expenditure in these countries, too.

EBITDA pre exceptionals for the full year 2010 are expected to come in between EUR650 and 700 million. “After all, the second quarter is also proceeding very well,” said CEO Axel Heitmann.

Heitmann anticipates that the company’s overall operating environment will continue to improve during the year with the Asia Pacific and Latin America regions to maintain the growth trend of the first quarter. He also expects that the US and Europe will continue to recover but not as quickly. Heitmann sees particular risks in the excessive financial debt of some eurozone countries, the ending of governments’ economic stimulus programmes and the volatility of raw material prices.

“The Asia Pacific region, above all, has provided a tailwind for our business during the crisis,” he said, adding that it is also the focus of current capital expenditures with the recent groundbreaking for the new butyl rubber plant in Singapore, the joint venture established at the beginning of May in China for the production of nitrile rubber and the two new production facilities in Jhagadia, India.