Specialty chemicals company LANXESS performed well again in the third quarter of 2019 – despite further deterioration of the economic environment. As expected, earnings in the third quarter were only slightly weaker than in the previous year. At EUR 267 million, EBITDA pre exceptional was 3.6 percent down on the prior year’s figure of EUR 277 million.
Earnings were negatively impacted in particular by lower demand from the automotive industry and the weak chrome ore business. However, this was almost offset by the company’s stable portfolio and advantageous exchange-rate effects, especially from the strong U.S. dollar. The EBITDA margin came in at 15.0 per cent, against 15.5 per cent in the prior-year quarter.
“Our stable position has once again proven its value, enabling us to remain on track in these turbulent times. Although the environment is still challenging, we are now optimistically embarking on our final spurt for the year,†says Matthias Zachert, Chairman of the Board of Management of LANXESS AG.
LANXESS expects its EBITDA pre exceptional in the fourth quarter to be slightly better than in the previous year. For the full year 2019, the specialty chemicals company expects its EBITDA pre exceptional to be between EUR 1.000 billion and EUR 1.050 billion (previous year: EUR 1.016 billion).
Group sales in the third quarter of 2019 amounted to EUR 1.781 billion, on a par with the previous year’s level. Net income declined by 13.8 percent from EUR 80 million to EUR 69 million, mainly due to higher depreciation. Earnings per share decreased less significantly by 10.2 per cent – from EUR 0.88 to EUR 0.79 – due to the lower average number of shares outstanding after the share buyback programme.