Clariant increases net income on improved margins
Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, today announced second quarter sales in 2013 from continuing operations of CHF 1.544 billion compared to CHF 1.527 billion in the prior-year period, an increase of 2% in local currencies and 1% in Swiss francs. Organic growth of 2% was entirely due to higher sales volumes. Similar to the first quarter of this year, the negative currency effect of 1% was due to a marked weakness of the Brazilian real, the Japanese yen and the Indian rupee against the Swiss franc.
Business conditions did not alter significantly between the first and second quarter of the current year. The Care Chemicals Business Area grew 8% in local currencies on the back of strong growth in all segments. Natural Resources was 6% higher, with strong growth in the Oil Services business overcompensating for ongoing weakness in the structurally challenged Water Treatment business. In Catalysis & Energy, business activity in Catalysts picked-up from the first into the second quarter, following the normal seasonal pattern with increasing sales quarter-by-quarter as the year progresses. Despite this positive development Catalysts did not reach the exceptional high sales recorded in the previous year. Sales in the Plastics & Coatings Business Area remained flat.
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