Type Public Founded 1995 Headquarters Muttenz, Switzerland | Traded as SIX: CLN Area served Worldwide Revenue 5.847 billion CHF (2016) | |
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Industry Chemicals, manufacturing Key people Hariolf Kottmann (CEO), Patrick Jany (CFO), Rudolf Wehrli (Chairman, Non-Executive Member of the Board of Directors) Stock price CLN (VTX) CHF 18.76 -0.16 (-0.85%)6 Mar, 2:51 PM GMT+1 - Disclaimer CEO Hariolf Kottmann (1 Oct 2008–) Subsidiaries Clariant (China) Limited, As Lüngen GmbH & Co. kg Profiles | ||
Clariant is a speciality chemicals company, formed in 1995 as a spin-off from Sandoz. The company is focused on four business areas: care chemicals (consumer and industrial); catalysis; natural resources (oil & mining, minerals); and plastics & coatings. Headquartered near Basel, Switzerland, the public company encompasses 110 operating companies in 53 countries. Major manufacturing sites are located in Europe, North America, South America, China and India. In 2015, sales from continuing operations were 5.8 billion CHF.
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European markets account for about one-third of sales, while Asia-Pacific, North America and Latin America account for about one-fifth each. Net income in 2015 was 227 million CHF, while EBITDA was 853 million CHF, yielding an EBITDA margin (as a percentage of sales) of 14.7% before exceptional items. The company’s post-2015 target is an EBITDA margin of 16-19%. EBITDA margin in the 2010-15 period was 10-15%, above its sub-10% levels of 2001-09. Clariant management aims to boost EBITDA margin further by: cost cutting and efficiency; sales growth, especially in Asia; and innovation in products and business processes.
Business
The company has sales of around US$6 billion. Headquarters are officially in Muttenz, but most central functions are officed in a dedicated corporate centre in nearby Pratteln, both near Basel, Switzerland. Clariant's four business areas, in descending order of revenues, are:
Plastics & Coatings
42% of sales, EBITDA margin of 13%, 'global GDP' growth ambition (currently 3-4%/year)
Products: additives, master batches and pigments for plastics processing; additives and pigments for paints and other coatings
Care Chemicals
25% of sales, EBITDA margin of 19%, 4-5%/year growth ambition
Products: de-icers, emulsifiers, food supplements, industrial fluids, surfactants, pesticide-delivery formulations, a process for making cellulosic ethanol,
Natural Resources
21% of sales, EBITDA margin of 17%, 6-7%/year growth ambition
Products: chemicals that assist production and processing of oil & gas, ores and metals
Catalysts
12% of sales, EBITDA margin of 25%, 6-7%/year growth ambition
Products: catalysts for C1 chemistry (ammonia, methanol and syn-gas), steam-cracker olefins and derivatives, on-purpose propylene and polypropylene and various refining processes
Sales by region (2015), in descending order of (CHF millions) volume, are :
Europe 1,931
Asia-Pacific 1,373
North America 1,077
Latin America 1,021
Middle East & Africa 405
Origin, acquisitions and divestitures
The company started in 1995, as a spinoff (IPO) of the chemical operations of Sandoz, which then merged its pharmaceutical business with that of Ciba-Geigy to form Novartis. (Ciba-Geigy also went on to spin out its chemical operations, called Ciba, which was later acquired by BASF.) In 1997 Clariant grew substantially, with the acquisition of the Hoechst speciality chemicals business. In 2000 Clariant bought British Tar Products (BTP plc), in 2006 Clariant bought Ciba's Masterbatches division, and in 2011 Clariant acquired German speciality chemical company Süd-Chemie. In 2013 Clariant divested its textile chemicals, emulsions and paper specialities businesses to SK Capital. In 2014, Clariant divested its leather services to Stahl Holdings and its detergents & intermediates business to Weylchem of the International Chemical Investors Group. Clariant International Ltd partners with matchmycolor LLC, a colour know-how company and Konica Minolta Inc, a Japanese technology company to efficiently colour match the polyolefin products easier and faster.
Research & Development
As of end-2015, some 1,100 of Clariant's some 17,000 employees were engaged in R&D, mainly at the company's 8 global R&D centers and its 50+ technical application centers. In 2015 the company spent CHF 204 million, or 3.5% of sales on R&D.
Sustainability
Clariant is a constituent of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World and the DJSI Europe. It also is a constituent of the FTSE4Good Index.