Industrial Automation Magazine India

LANXESS is more strongly positioned than ever before, says CEO Zachert

Published on : Wednesday 09-09-2020

Fiscal 2019 successfully completed in a challenging environment – Hans van Bylen stands for election as new LANXESS Supervisory Board member.

Cologne, September 2020 – At its Annual Stockholders’ Meeting, specialty chemicals company LANXESS looks back on a successful fiscal 2019 and is proving to be robust even in the current corona crisis. “I am proud that we at LANXESS have held together in recent months. In a borderline situation, the likes of which none of us have ever seen before, we have all pulled together,” said Matthias Zachert, LANXESS Chairman of the Board of Management. Due to the corona pandemic, the company’s Annual Stockholders’ Meeting is taking place virtually for the first time.

In fiscal 2019, the company's realignment to focus on high-quality specialty chemicals, which LANXESS initiated in 2015 with its decision to divest itself of the rubber business, proved successful. Since then, the company has consistently pursued its growth course in line with the principle of “class not mass” and has positioned itself much more profitable and stable. In 2019, for example, LANXESS divested its chrome chemicals business, acquired Brazilian biocide manufacturer IPEL and launched the Consumer Protection segment, which has since established itself as a new strong pillar of the company. The successful realignment is also reflected in the figures: In a challenging economic environment, LANXESS increased its operating result by 3 percent to EUR 1.019 billion in 2019. The EBITDA margin pre exceptionals came in at 15.0 percent for the first time, compared with 14.4 percent in the previous year. The company has also set itself an ambitious climate protection target for 2019: By 2040, LANXESS aims to become climate-neutral and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions from the current level of around 3.2 million metric tons of CO2e.

Zachert also gave a positive summary of the first half of 2020 despite charges from the corona pandemic and once again confirmed the guidance for the full year. The company expects EBITDA pre exceptionals for 2020 to be between EUR 800 million and EUR 900 million.

Measures were taken early on to prepare the company for the economic impact of the corona crisis, said the LANXESS CEO. “The key to this lies in strong liquidity. After the Lehman crisis, we learned that you can only defend your capacity to take action if you build a strong liquidity position early on.” Zachert summarised: “LANXESS is more strongly positioned than ever before – both strategically and financially.”