Following a strong Q3, specialty chemicals company Lanxess has again raised its earnings guidance for 2016. The Cologne-based company now expects to achieve EBITDA pre exceptionals within a corridor of €960 million and €1,000 million. Previously, Lanxess had assumed earnings of between EUR 930 million and EUR 970 million. EBITDA pre exceptionals for the third quarter of 2016 rose by 9.4% to €257 million, compared with €235 million a year earlier. The EBITDA margin pre exceptionals improved year-on-year from 12.0% to 13.4% . As in the preceding three-month period, the good overall earnings performance was due reportedly to the strong operational development of new Lanxess segments – Advanced Intermediates, Performance Chemicals and High Performance Materials – and to improved cost structures. ‘We took the momentum from the first half of the year into the third quarter and delivered renewed proof of the operational strength of ‘new’ Lanxess. We are therefore again raising our guidance for the full year,’ said Matthias Zachert, chairman of the board of management of Lanxess AG. Q3 net income increased by 51.2% to €62 million from €41 million the previous year. Group sales declined by a slight 1.6% in the third quarter of 2016 to €1.92 billion, compared with €1.95 billion in the same period in 2015. Higher volumes in all segments nearly compensated for the lower selling prices resulting from raw material prices.
This story is reprinted from material from Lanxess, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.