Clariant Significantly Increased Sales, Profitability and Operating Cash Flow Again in 2016

Operating cash flow increased significantly by 29 percent, rising from CHF 502 million in 2015 to CHF 646 million.

Clariant announced that sales figures, which stood at CHF 5.807 billion in 2015, rose to CHF 5.847 billion in 2016. This increase corresponds to a 2 percent increase on a local currency basis, also supported by higher volumes. The regions with the strongest year-on-year growth on a local currency basis were Asia, Middle East and Africa with 4 percent. China and India were the countries that supported this strong growth in Asia the most. Growth in North America and Europe was 2 percent. Latin America grew by 1 percent. Sales performance, which showed improvement throughout the year, resulted from strong growth in the Care Chemicals and Plastics and Coatings segments. Sales in the Care Chemicals segment increased 5 percent on a local currency basis, rising to CHF 1.465 billion. Sales in the Plastics and Coatings segment increased 4 percent on a local currency basis to CHF 2.525 billion. The increased sales performance in the Plastics and Coatings segments showed its effect across all regions. Net profit this year rose from CHF 227 million recorded in the previous year to CHF 263 million. The 16 percent increase on an annual basis resulted from continued growth in absolute EBITDA, lower financial costs and improvement in the tax rate.