Nutrition & Care

Q2 2019

We slightly increased sales in the Nutrition & Care segment. This was driven by considerable sales growth in the Nutrition & Health division, while sales in the Care Chemicals division declined slightly.

The sales increase was primarily attributable to significantly higher volumes in the Nutrition & Health division as a result of improved product availability in the animal nutrition and aroma ingredients businesses at our plants in Kuantan, Malaysia, and Ludwigshafen, Germany. By contrast, sales in the Care Chemicals division declined slightly due to lower volumes. Sales in both divisions were lifted by slightly positive currency effects. Overall, prices were slightly below the prior-year level, mainly from significantly lower prices for vitamins in the Nutrition & Health division’s animal nutrition business. Prices declined slightly in the Care Chemicals division: Significantly lower sales prices in the oleo surfactants and alcohols business could only be partially offset by higher prices in the home care, industrial and institutional cleaning, and industrial formulators business.

Income from operations (EBIT) before special items rose slightly compared with the second quarter of 2018 due to a considerable increase in the Care Chemicals division. The main driver was lower fixed costs, mostly owing to a contractual one-off payment in the personal care solutions business. We also achieved higher margins, primarily as a result of lower raw materials prices. EBIT before special items declined considerably in the Nutrition & Health division. Fixed costs rose as a result of an insurance refund received in the prior-year quarter for production outages in 2017 and 2018. This could not be completely offset by the positive earnings contribution from the increase in sales volumes.