At its annual press conference on March 22, specialty chemicals company Lanxess reported record sales and earnings figures during the 2011 financial year.

Highlights the company touched upon were a 23% rise in sales to 8,775 million euros, and EBITDA pre-exceptionals up 25% to 1,146 million euros – the first time the one billion euro mark has been exceeded. Net income rose disproportionately compared with sales and EBITDA pre-exceptionals, improving by one third from the previous year to 506 million euros. These positive results were achieved, the company stated, thanks to its price-before-volume strategy, successful acquisitions and focus on the emerging markets.

"Following last year’s record earnings, Lanxess got off to a promising start in 2012,” company CEO Axel Heitmann announced. “We expect to post EBITDA pre-exceptionals of between 330 million and 350 million euros in the first quarter. That means we will exceed the record set in the same period of last year. Our plans for continued growth are founded on innovations and technologies that serve the global megatrends, especially mobility – with the primary focus on solutions for sustainable mobility."

This focus on products and technologies for ‘green mobility’ netted Lanxess sales of around 1.5 billion euros, or some 17% of total sales, in 2011. Heitmann added: “We plan to boost this figure by 80% to about 2.7 billion euros by 2015.”  (Tyres & Accessories)