STRATEGIES
Songwon reveals location of Middle East jv plant, posts 11.9% sales growth
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ollowing close on the news of the formation of joint venture Songwon Additive Technologies AG [ADPO, December 2012] comes the announcement that the jv is itself establishing a new manufacturing company with founding partner Polysys Industries of Abu Dhabi. Polysys Additive Technologies ME will produce one pack systems (OPS) for the Middle Eastern market and is to build a new plant for the purpose in Kizad (Khalifa Industrial City of Abu Dhabi). Songwon Additive Technologies is a jv between Songwon Industrial, Pan Gulf and Polysys. The Kizad OPS plant will have an initial capacity of approximately 7000 tonnes/year but will be designed to take into consideration increasing demand in the future, reveals Maurizio Butti, chief operating officer of Songwon Industrial and board chairman for Songwon Additive Technologies. Construction of the facility is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months, he says. According to Butti, the new plant is ‘a very important step’ for Songwon Additive Technologies and the Songwon Industrial group in the development of its global OPS footprint following the acquisition of Additive Technologies Greiz and the capacity expansion already implemented [ibid, December 2012]. ‘Our aim is to be able to offer our customers, in each of the key regions, access to OPS based on the same technology and the same level of reliability and service which has supported the growth of Songwon Industrial in the polymer stabilizer market’, he explains. The Middle East already represents a key market for OPS and polymer stabilizers and this position is expected to grow significantly in the near future, Butti says. Commenting for Polysys Industries, chairman Mohamed Al Muhairi says that the new jv is ‘fully in line’ with the company’s strategy to develop businesses that support the fast-growing regional petrochemicals industry with local supply of critical components and raw materials. ‘Having already created a global partnership through Songwon Additive Technologies, which brings important synergies in terms of access to technologies, raw materials and multiregional customers, we are delighted to have the new plant located in Kizad. This will be a very effective hub for sup-
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Additives for Polymers
plying not only locally, but also the whole region due to its unique location and infrastructure’, he concludes. In other recent developments, Songwon has revealed that its Songwon Baifu Chemicals (Tangshan) Co, Ltd jv with China’s Tangshan Baifu Chemical commenced operations in July last year. The formal agreement to establish the antioxidants jv was signed at the K 2010 event [ibid, December 2010]. Songwon Baifu Chemicals has a production capacity of 8000 tonnes per annum of thioester antioxidants, and is now ‘fully integrated’ into Songwon’s global operational processes, the company says. Songnox® thioester antioxidants such as DLTDP, DSTDP, DTDTP and DMTDP are widely used in PE, PP, ABS, HIPS, polyester and polyamide, as well as other materials, according to Songwon. In its most recent financial figures, Songwon posted total sales revenues of KRW 528.0 billion (c. E375 million) for the first nine months of 2012, an 11.9% increase on sales of KRW 471.7 billion for the same period in 2011. The group’s net profit jumped 118% year on year to KRW 16.5 billion for the nine-month period. Gross profit, operating profit and EBIT also showed substantial gains compared to 2011. 3Q 2012 contributed KRW 174.4 billion in sales and KRW 5.7 billion in net profit, Songwon reports. While the economic environment is affecting some areas of the group’s business, this has been offset by growth in polymer stabilizers, it says. Contact: Songwon Industrial Co, Ltd, Ulsan, Korea. Tel: +82 522 739 841, Web: www.songwonind.com
Galata Chemicals opens technical centre in India
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lastics additives specialist Galata Chemicals has opened its latest Technical Center in Navi Mumbai, India. The company is committed to ‘investing in technology and bringing innovative solutions to our customers in the region’, according to president and COO Steven McKeown. The Indian Technical Center offers a full range of analytical and testing capabilities in support of product and application development efforts as well as marketing and technical service for the area’s customers, Galata Chemicals says. According to Dr Peter Frenkel, global director of technology and innovation, the Technical
January 2013
FINANCIALS
Center is focused on providing high-quality, reliable and innovative products for Galata customers in the India region, building on the company’s ‘well-established products and technologies’. Dr Anand P. Gokhale, an experienced scientist with a proven record of successful product development and market introduction in the field of PVC additives, has been appointed director of research and development to coordinate all technical activities at the facility. McKeown describes the addition of the Mumbai Technical Center as another step to strengthen Galata’s technical capabilities, following the recent expansion of the company’s US Technical Center and the addition of technical staff globally. The company is ‘continuing to recruit talented scientists’ and is making on-going investments in innovative products such as the new Mark® heat stabilizers and Drapex® Alpha bio-based primary plasticizers [ADPO, January 2011 & November 2012], he says. Galata Chemicals is a global producer of plastics additives including mixed metal heat stabilizers, organotin heat stabilizers, epoxidized soybean oil, polymer modifiers, tin catalysts and bio-based plasticizers. The company was formed in 2010 through the sale of Chemtura’s former PVC additives business to Artek Aterian Holdings [ibid, July 2010]. Contact: Galata Chemicals, Southbury, CT, USA. Tel: +1 203 236 9000, Web: www.galatachemicals.com
FINANCIALS Clariant’s sales hold steady in global slowdown but 3Q income falls
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or the third quarter of 2012, speciality chemicals company Clariant reported sales of CHF1.923 billion (c. E1.55 billion), up 3% from CHF1.865 billion in 3Q 2011. However, further deterioration in the global economy weakened demand, particularly in Europe, resulting in a 7% decline in quarterly EBITDA pre-exceptionals and a 40% slump in net income compared to the same quarter in 2011.
January 2013
According to CEO Hariolf Kottmann, Clariant achieved a solid performance in 3Q 2012 ‘given the further deterioration of the global economy’, in which slower growth in emerging markets could no longer offset the ‘pronounced economic weakness in Europe’. Although the short-term economic challenges are expected to persist, Clariant’s mid-term guidance for 2015 remains intact, he says. However, the company reduced its guidance for full-year 2012. In 3Q 2012, the global economy did not stabilize as expected, Clariant says. While Latin America continued on a solid growth path and North America remained stable, the downturn in Europe spread from the Southern countries across the continent. At the same time, the major economies in the Asia Pacific and the Middle East and Africa started to soften, it reports. At group level, volumes decreased 5% year on year. Although volume reductions affected most businesses, the Catalysis & Energy, Functional Materials, Industrial & Consumer Specialties and Masterbatches Business Units (BUs) ‘performed solidly in this environment’ and are on track to achieve their full-year targets. On the other hand, the particularly pronounced weakness in the electronics, coatings and increasingly the automotive industries severely affected the Additives and Pigments BUs, the company says. Year on year, prices increased by 2% while raw material costs decreased by 1%. The positive contribution from pricing was partially offset by unabsorbed production costs due to lower volumes, and an unfavourable development in product mix. In addition, the contribution from new production capacities for battery materials and flame retardants was much lower than expected earlier, Clariant comments. Under the current economic conditions, a slower market adoption of these new innovative products and technologies has been observed, therefore leading to low capacity utilization rates in those two plants. The EBITDA before exceptional items contracted to CHF201 million from CHF216 million in 3Q 2012. Therefore the EBITDA margin before exceptionals stood at 10.5% compared to 11.6% in the previousyear period. While the underlying EBITDA of the businesses was stable, the lower margin was the result of higher SG&A costs that were mainly related to the integration of Süd-Chemie, a lower positive contribution from one-time items and higher R&D costs. Restructuring and impairment costs were lower at
Additives for Polymers
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