German firm foresees strong growth in China

Evonik Industries AG, the German specialty chemicals manufacturing giant, adjusted its annual forecasted income to 13.5 billion euros ($15.1 billion) in early August, following strong quarterly results.

The forecast revenue is a 4.65 percent rise from 2014, according to the quarterly report released on Aug 4.

The company said its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) will be around 2.4 billion euros in 2015, compared to 1,882 million euros the previous year.

This is the second time Evonik has raised its annual outlook this year.

At the start of this fiscal year, Evonik experienced an uptick in sales and earnings. Following a strong performance in the first quarter, the company raised its guidance for adjusted EBITDA to at least 2.2 billion euros in May.

Benefiting from solid volume growth, Evonik's Q2 sales increased 8 percent year-on-year to 3.5 billion euros. Its adjusted EBITDA in Q2 reached 661 million euros, a jump of 40 percent year-on-year.

"The successful business trend continued in the second quarter. It is especially pleasing to report that all three chemical segments improved their results further compared with the already very good first quarter," said Klaus Engel, chairman of the executive board of Evonik.

Evonik has three business segments: nutrition and care, resource efficiency, and performance materials. Nutrition and care as well as resource efficiency reported 27 percent and 6 percent quarterly sales growth, respectively. But its performance materials reported a 4 percent decline in sales.

The company has been producing specialty chemical products in China since the late 1970s. It opened its first application technology lab for medical devices in Shanghai on Aug 12 to provide support to medical device manufacturers who use Evonik polymers in their products.

"The market for medical devices is becoming increasingly important to our healthcare business, in particular in China, where we expect strong growth over the coming years," said Jean-Luc Herbeaux, head of Evonik's healthcare business line within its nutrition and care business segment.

"Players in this high growth market are looking for partners who can help them not only with a reliable supply of materials but also with support on how to best use these materials for their specific design and production needs. With this new lab, we are in a position to provide this support timely and locally," he said.

The company said new labs for medical devices are planned in other countries and regions, with the next lab slated for Darmstadt, Germany, to serve the European market.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 09/17/2015 page10)