Lanxess publishes results for fiscal 2013
ERJ staff report (TP)
Cologne, Germany – Specialty chemicals group Lanxess said it expects EBITDA pre exceptionals of around €200m for the first quarter of 2014. In the prior-year quarter, the company posted EBITDA pre exceptionals of €174m that was “burdened by several factors including start-up costs”.
Lanxess also confirmed the preliminary figures for fiscal 2013 published on 26 February.
Key points:
Full-year 2013 sales fell by nine percent to €8.3bn.
EBITDA pre exceptionals declines by 40 percent to €735m.
Group net loss of €159m impacted by impairment charges.
Proposed dividend of €0.50 per share.
Q1 2014 EBITDA pre exceptionals expected to be around €200m.
"Behind us lies a challenging year," said Lanxess Chief Financial Officer Bernhard Duettmann. "Negative effects were the volatile raw material prices and increasing competition, especially in the synthetic rubber business."
The company will propose to the Annual Stockholders’ Meeting on 22 May that a dividend of €0.50 per share be paid for 2013. This would result in a total dividend payment of around €42m. A dividend of €1.00 per share was paid for 2012.
Outlook for 2014:
Lanxess expects the market environment for synthetic rubber to remain challenging in 2014 in light of the competitive and capacity situation. Exchange rates, in particular the US Dollar, are likely to continue their volatile development. The same applies to raw material costs, albeit at a comparatively moderate level.
Earnings in the first quarter of 2014 will also be impacted by the effects of a strike at the company’s site in Zwijndrecht, Belgium. Butyl rubber production there has been at a standstill for around three weeks.
For the full year 2014, Lanxess is anticipating a slight improvement in EBITDA pre exceptionals, due alone to the absence of one-time items, even if selling prices remain at low levels.
For the current year, Lanxess is planning capital expenditures at the same level as in 2013. Most of these will go toward the construction of the world-scale plant for Nd-PBR (neodymium-based performance butadiene rubber) in Singapore and for the construction of the plant for EPDM (ethylene-propylene-diene monomer) rubber in China. Both plants are scheduled to come on stream in 2015.
In the third quarter of 2014, a world-scale facility for polyamides will start operation at the site in Antwerp, Belgium. As of 2015, capital expenditures should decrease substantially and be used predominantly to expand and maintain existing facilities.
As in the past, Lanxess will give a more precise outlook for the current business year when it publishes its first-quarter report on 8 May.
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Press release from Lanxess
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