- Sales significantly lower than than in third quarter of 2008 due to decline in volumes and prices
- Earnings increase overall thanks to successful measures to reduce costs
- Significant improvement in earnings in Performance Polymers as a result of capacity adjustments
3rd Quarter 2009
The business environment in the Plastics segment remained challenging in the third quarter. Both volumes and sales fell short of the figures for the same quarter of 2008 (volumes –4%, prices –18%, portfolio 0%, currencies 2%). Despite the decline in sales, we increased income from operations before special items compared with the third quarter of 2008. Measures to cut costs and higher margins in Performance Polymers contributed to the rise in earnings. Demand for our products continued to stabilize compared with the previous quarter. Both divisions improved sales and earnings.
Performance Polymers
In the Performance Polymers division, sales fell significantly compared with the third quarter of 2008. This was mainly due to lower prices as a result of a decline in raw material costs and generally weaker demand. In the third quarter of 2009, the business environment improved slightly worldwide and in Asia considerably. The positive earnings trend seen since the beginning of the year continued in the third quarter: Earnings were significantly higher than in the same period of 2008. This was due to higher margins in almost all business areas, as well as lower fixed costs resulting from our measures to adjust capacities. In the future, we will concentrate the production of polyamide 6 in Europe at our Antwerp and Ludwigshafen sites and place greater emphasis on high-margin products.
Polyurethanes
As a result of lower prices, sales in the Polyurethanes division declined compared with the third quarter of 2008. Business with important customer industries, such as automotive and construction, remained difficult. The basic products, MDI and TDI, were subject to strong price competition, which resulted in lower margins. We were able to partly offset the decline in earnings by reducing costs. Our system solutions business posted higher earnings despite a decline in sales. Compared with the second quarter of 2009, sales and earnings increased significantly, especially in Asia.
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Segment data (million €) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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3rd Quarter |
|
January – September | ||||
|
|
2009 |
2008 |
Change in % |
|
2009 |
2008 |
Change in % |
|
Sales to third parties |
1,967 |
2,452 |
(20) |
|
5,180 |
7,337 |
(29) |
|
Thereof Performance Polymers |
843 |
1,096 |
(23) |
|
2,190 |
3,260 |
(33) |
|
Polyurethanes |
1,124 |
1,356 |
(17) |
|
2,990 |
4,077 |
(27) |
|
Income from operations before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) |
333 |
295 |
13 |
|
658 |
1,121 |
(41) |
|
Income from operations (EBIT) before special items |
216 |
198 |
9 |
|
325 |
835 |
(61) |
|
Income from operations (EBIT) |
216 |
194 |
11 |
|
325 |
830 |
(61) |
|
Assets |
4,592 |
5,591 |
(18) |
|
– |
– |
– |
|
Research expenses |
29 |
38 |
(24) |
|
93 |
105 |
(11) |
|
Additions to property, plant and equipment and intangible assets |
58 |
120 |
(52) |
|
185 |
303 |
(39) |
