Synthetic rubber recovery helps lift Zeon results 

Tokyo – Zeon Corp has seen both sales and profits lifted in the fourth quarter of its financial year ended 31 March, due to a recovery in the synthetic rubber demand.

The Japanese group's fourth quarter sales grew 62% year-on-year to Yen85.7 billion (€660 million), while operating income was up 78% at Yen12.3 billion.

For the full year, operating income was up 28% at Yen33.4 billion, on 6% lower sales of Yen302 billion, Zeon reported 29 April.

Zeon's elastomers business, which manufactures rubber, latexes and rubber chemicals, saw fourth quarter operating income lifted more than six-fold to Yen7 billion, on 9% higher sales of Yen47.2 billion.

For the full year, the division reported 27% higher operating income at Yen12.3 billion, on 10% lower sales of Yen178 billion. 

During the fourth quarter, Zeon said sales volume recovered with the elastomers division seeing an overall 17% increase in volumes to 176,000 tonnes.

Rubber volumes were up 12% year-on-year at 99,000 tonnes, while latexes and chemicals posted 9% and 6% increases to 37,000 tonnes and 41,000 tonnes respectively. 

Fourth quarter sales of rubbers rose 9% to Yen32 billion, while latexes jumped 28% to Yen5.1 billion. Chemicals registered a 2% decline in sales for the three-month period to Yen8.8 billion.