Lansheng announced its full year performance, with sales increasing by 10.2%

Longsheng, a specialty chemicals company, ended its fiscal year with strong results. In 2018, as expected, EBITDA increased by 9.8% to EUR 1016 million. According to the forecast, the company's profit level is higher than 5% to 10% of last year's 925 million euros (excluding arlaxeo). "Despite the economic headwinds, we have fulfilled our commitments. We have made good progress in our strategy and operation: Langsheng now pays great attention to special chemicals. Today, we are more profitable, more stable and more competitive than ever before, and it's worth it, "said Matthias zachet, chairman of Longsheng's board. Good business performance, especially thanks to the business strength of advanced intermediates, special additives and engineering materials departments, as well as the integration of the phosphorus additive business acquired by kejua and Solvay. EBITDA margin was 14.1%. The group's sales increased by 10.2% to 7.197 billion euros from 6.53 billion euros last year. Net income was 431 million euros, up from 87 million euros last year. This is due to the year-on-year improvement in operating performance and the impact of the sale of 50% of the equity in arlaxeo.

In addition, the net income of the previous year also reduced one-time expenses. Dividends increase again. The success of fy2018 is also expected to bring returns to the shareholders of Lansheng. The management committee and the supervisory board will propose a dividend of EUR 0.90 per share to the annual general meeting on May 23, 2019. This will be an increase of 12.5% over the previous year. 2018 strategic milestone: the sale of rubber business was completed. At the end of fiscal year 2018, Lansheng achieved another milestone of restructuring. On December 31, specialty chemicals completed the sale of the remaining 50% of its rubber company, aranxeo, to its former joint venture partner, Saudi Aramco. The two companies formed a joint venture on April 1, 2016. Langsheng has gained about EUR 1.4 billion in share proceeds, of which EUR 200 million has been used to further finance its pension liabilities. Another Buyback program of up to 200 million euros will be completed at the end of the financial year. "We have used the proceeds from the sale of our equity in arlanxio to further strengthen our balance sheet. In addition, we have more room to drive growth organically and through acquisitions, "said Michael pontzen, chief financial officer of Lanson. Almost every market segment performed well.

Although the agricultural market continues to face challenges, the operation of the advanced intermediate products sector performed strongly in fy2018. Sales were 2.207 billion euros, up 11.7% from last year's 1.975 billion euros. The division's EBITDA increased 7.2% to EUR 359 million from EUR 335 million. EBITDA margin was 16.3%, slightly lower than last year's 17.0%. In the field of special additives, due to the successful integration of kejua and Solvay businesses, sales and operating results have increased significantly. Sales were EUR 1.98 billion, up 22.9% from EUR 1.611 billion in the previous year. EBITDA increased from EUR 267 million to EUR 343 million, a considerable increase of 28.5%. EBITDA margin increased from 16.6% to 17.3%. In the field of high-performance chemicals, sales and business performance are not as strong as last year due to the weak development of leather and construction industry. Sales fell 6.3% to EUR 1.349 billion from EUR 1.439 billion. EBITDA was EUR 187 million, down 25.8% from EUR 252 million in the previous year. EBITDA margin was 13.9% compared to 17.5% a year ago. The engineering materials department has greatly increased sales and operating results on the basis of the profit-making business of lightweight construction plastics. A part of the polyurethane business acquired from kejua has also made a positive contribution to the acquisition results. Sales increased by 15.4% from EUR 1.366 billion to EUR 1.576 billion. EBITDA increased by 21.9% to 267 million euros from 219 million euros. The Department's EBITDA increased from 16.0% to 16.9%. Compared with last year, the performance of all departments is affected by the negative exchange rate effect, especially the weakening of the US dollar. 2019 Outlook: Although the economy is weak, it is still growing. Despite the economic downturn, Langsheng has made a solid start in the new year. Lanxey expects its EBITDA for the whole of 2019 to be close to the level of the previous year. LANXESS will detail its profit forecast for the whole year when it publishes its quarterly results on May 14, 2019.