Bayer Group got off to a successful start to 2011

(Bayer) -- ⌠All three subgroups contributed to the strong start to the year with sales and earnings increases, Bayer CEO Dr. Marijn Dekkers explained on Thursday when the company's first-quarter results were released. He was especially pleased at how well the season had begun at CropScience. MaterialScience achieved significant growth compared with the prior-year quarter, which was still hampered by the financial and economic crisis, and HealthCare also posted a solid performance. Dekkers expressed his optimism for the year as a whole: ⌠We are raising our Group sales and earnings forecast for this year, mainly because of the improvement we expect at CropScience.

Sales of the Bayer Group climbed by 13.2 percent in the first quarter of 2011, to EUR 9.415 million (Q1 2010: EUR 8.316 million). Despite the positive business trend, the operating result (EBIT) improved by only 4.0 percent to EUR 1.148 million (Q1 2010: EUR 1.104 million).

Earnings were diminished by special charges of EUR 442 million (Q1 2010: EUR 77 million). Of this figure, the restructuring measures already announced at CropScience and HealthCare accounted for EUR 248 million. Charges of EUR 194 million were taken mainly for an intended settlement program in connection with litigations concerning genetically modified rice in the United States.

MRC

(IIFL) -- India's largest crude oil refining firm, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is planning an investment of Rs. 40.000 crore to set up a world-class greenfield refinery-cum-petrochemical complex on the western coast with a capacity to process 18 to 20 million tonnes of crude oil per annum. "We plan to set up a coastal refinery to capture the export market in future as also to strengthen our foothold in the domestic market," chairman and managing director of IOC, Rs. Butola said.

MRC

(ABB) -- ABB solutions will help boost the efficiency and stability of the power network at Saudi Arabia's giant Sadaf Jubail petrochemical complex, and also integrate electrical control systems in its six petrochemical plants.

A two-part power factor and power management solution will significantly increase the power factor of the site's power network, and integrate the electrical and process information management systems at the site's six manufacturing facilities into a single, unified system.

Owned by Saudi Arabia Petrochemical Company (Sadaf) and located at Al Jubail on the Gulf coast, the complex is one of the largest petrochemical sites in the world, producing more than 4.7 million tons of petrochemicals a year.


MRC

(Reuters) - Saudi Basic Industries Corp 2010.SE, the world's largest chemicals producer, said it will launch a joint venture firm with Japana's Asahi Kasei Chemicals and Mitsubishi Corp. The new company, Saudi Japanese Acrylonitrile Co, will build a plant to produce acrylonitrile and sodium cyanide in Jubail. The facility will have capacity of 200 KTa of the former and 40 KTa of the latter, SABIC said in a statement on Wednesday.

MRC

(Fibre2fashion) -- Toray Industries Inc and Toray Advanced Materials Korea Inc announced that the companies have decided to enter the high-performance polypropylene spunbond business in Indonesia. The companies plan to establish P.T. Toray Polytech Jakarta (TPJ) in the group's site in Tangerang, Indonesia, in September this year and build a production facility with an annual capacity of approximately 20 KT. The new plant is expected to start full-scale operations in June 2013.

Demand for disposable baby diapers is expected to grow at a rapid pace in the ASEAN countries on the back of high economic growth and changes to lifestyle brought about by rising national incomes. Particularly in Indonesia, the market for disposable baby diapers is estimated to grow at a pace of 14% a year, increasing approximately from 1.9 billion diapers in 2010 to 3.7 billion diapers in 2015.

MRC