2023-08-04 07:27:48
Lanxess
The specialty chemicals company is imposing a Europe-wide hiring freeze.
(Photo: Lanxess)
Frankfurt Lanxess boss Matthias Zachert wants to make the Cologne-based specialty chemicals group weatherproof after a slump in profits in the second quarter with an austerity program. “Chemistry and Lanxess are currently in difficult waters. The hoped-for recovery in demand for the second half of the year is currently not foreseeable. That’s why we’re taking countermeasures,” said Zachert on Friday.
With the program, which also includes a Europe-wide hiring freeze, Lanxess wants to make one-time savings of around 100 million euros in 2023 through cost reductions and reduced investments. Annual expenses are to be permanently reduced by around 150 million from 2025.
In the second quarter, adjusted operating profit (Ebitda) collapsed by almost 58 percent to 107 million euros due to weak demand, ongoing customer destocking and lower selling prices. Sales fell by a good eleven percent to 1.778 billion.
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The bottom line is that Lanxess made a loss of 145 million euros in continuing operations after a plus of 48 million in the same period last year.
Long-standing CFO Michael Pontzen is leaving Lanxess and will be moving to a company outside Germany in September. He has worked for the Group for 19 years and has been on the Management Board since 2015. His successor will be Oliver Stratmann, who has been with Lanxess since 2004 and most recently headed the Treasury & Investor Relations department.
BASF, Bayer, Evonik: Chemical companies have lowered their forecasts
In June, Lanxess launched a whole series of profit warnings from the chemical industry and significantly lowered its annual targets. For 2023, the company expects adjusted earnings of 600 to 650 million euros instead of the originally forecast 850 to 950 (2022: 930) million.
Industry leader BASF and other companies such as Evonik and Clariant have meanwhile dropped their forecasts. They all had to give up hope of a recovery in the second half of the year.
More: What about Germany’s most important industries?
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