Regional Results – 1st Half 2015

Europe

Sales at companies headquartered in Europe rose by 1% compared with the first half of 2014. Substantially higher volumes in natural gas trading led to considerable sales growth in the Oil & Gas segment. The increase was dampened by the drop in the price of oil. In the chemicals business², lower prices resulting from fallen raw material costs put a strain on sales, especially in the Petrochemicals division. At €2,863 million, income from operations before special items exceeded that of the previous first half by €127 million. This was largely due to considerably higher earnings in the Chemicals and Functional Materials & Solutions segments.

North America

In North America, sales fell by 13% in local currency terms but increased by 6% in euro terms. Highly positive currency effects supported sales development in all segments. Especially in the Chemicals division, prices were considerably down as a result of lower raw material costs. Sales volumes declined slightly overall. At €904 million, earnings were €53 million below the level of the first half of 2014. A significantly larger contribution from the Functional Materials & Solutions segment was unable to compensate for considerably lower earnings in the Chemicals and Agricultural Solutions segments.

Asia Pacific

Sales in the Asia Pacific region decreased by 11% in local currency terms. Because of highly positive currency effects in all segments, however, sales in euro terms rose by 6%. We observed a decline in sales prices, primarily in the Chemicals segment. The disposal of our share in the Ellba Eastern Private Ltd. joint operation in Singapore at the end of 2014 also weakened sales development. Volumes remained stable overall. Earnings in the Chemicals and Performance Products segments fell considerably. As a result, earnings for the region declined by €109 million to €237 million.

South America, Africa, Middle East

Sales in the South America, Africa, Middle East region rose by 3% in local currency terms and by 8% in euro terms. Aside from positive currency effects, higher prices also contributed to sales growth. Driven by prices and currencies, the Performance Products and Oil & Gas segments in particular were able to considerably increase their sales. At €109 million, earnings were €24 million above the level of the same period of 2014. This was attributable to significantly improved earnings in the Oil & Gas segment and in Other.