MOSCOW (
MRC) -- Clariant has posted a first-quarter net profit of Swiss francs (Swfr) 87m (USD91.6m) from a net loss of Swfr48m in the previous corresponding period because of a substantial decline in restructuring costs, said the company in its press relelase.
Q1 sales decreased 2 pct to 1.465 billion Swiss francs (USD1.53 billion) from 1.492 billion Swiss francs.
Q1 net result from continuing operations at 87 million francs compared to net loss of 39 million francs.
Clariant said that exceptional items including restructuring, impairment, and transaction-related costs declined to Swfr13m compared to Swfr99m in the first quarter of 2014.
Clariant’s largest division, Plastics & Coatings, registered a 1% growth in sales in local currencies during the first quarter of 2015 but a decrease in francs of 4% to Swfr619m, with earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) decreasing 11% in local currencies and 17% in francs.
Plastics & Coatings’ Masterbatches subdivision also took a hit from the cold winter in North America, where sales declined, although they remained flat in Europe and grew in Latin America and Asia, with both India and China performing well. The subdivision Additives benefited from good sales of halogen-free flame retardants for electrical applications and electronics recovered.
Sees FY 2015 further increase in its EBITDA margin before exceptional items above full-year 2014 and increase cash flow generation.
As MRC informed earlier, Clariant
announced that it has acquired the black pigment preparations portfolio of Lanxess, located at Nagda, Madhya Pradesh.
Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints. Clariant India has local masterbatch production activities at Rania, Kalol and Nandesari (Gujarat) and Vashere (Maharashtra) sites in India.
MRC