Clariant: nine-month profit weighed on by EU fine

(CercleFinance.com) - Swiss specialty chemicals company Clariant said that its sales and profit fell over the first nine months of 2019, due to deteriorating economic conditions in the third quarter.


Sales in the first nine months of the year fell to 3.27 billion Swiss francs, compared with 3.28 billion Swiss francs in the first nine months of 2018, on the back of weaker economic conditions and some capacity outages earlier in the year, Clariant said in a statement on Wednesday.

EBITDA after extraordinary items was negatively impacted by the one-off provision of 231 million Swiss francs due to the competition law investigation launched by the European Commission into the ethylene purchasing market.

The group, which makes pigments for cars and compounds for the healthcare industry, said it expects its continuing businesses to achieve above-market growth, along with higher profitability and stronger cash generation this year, despite the currently challenging environment.

Clariant also announced today that it has decided to appoint Bernd Hoegemann, who has been with the company for over 10 years and who is currently the head of its masterbatches division, as the newest member of the company's executive committee.

By midday, its shares were down 0.2%, slightly outperforming a 0.3% drop in the STOXX Europe 600 Optimised Chemicals index.

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