A tough year

25 November 2002 00:00  [Source: ICB]

The top companies saw a decline in sales in 2001 and many producers struggled to match the previous year's performance and earnings. Overall, the rankings remain very similar to 2000, but industry restructuring has introduced a few changes to the line-up. John Baker reports

The ranking of Europe's top 40 chemical producers saw very little change last year, with M&A making precious little difference to overall placings. The top ten are unchanged save that ICI and Degussa have slid several places as they progressed with their radical disposal programmes. Shell and BP moved up a place or two in response.

The main story, though, is one of declining top and bottom lines, marking the fact that a strong 2000 performance was reversed in 2001, which proved more and more difficult as the year wore on. In 2000, the top players saw sales grow by 10-20%, but most companies experienced declines in 2001, the worst falls being at BASF (-9.6%) and Shell (-12%). Companies bucking the negative trends were Akzo Nobel, BP, Degussa and Air Liquide.

At the net earnings level, only ICI amongst the top ten managed to report an increase. Within the top 40 producers no less than six companies reported an operating loss for the year. This figure rises to ten at the net profit level, with commodity polymer producers Basell, EVC and Borealis and recent creations Rhodia, Clariant and Celanese the main sufferers.

Changes

Industry restructuring has made a few slight changes to the top rankings, however. EniChem no longer features as a name, parent company Eni having transferred most of its chemical assets into subsidiary Polimeri Europa, prior to a planned disposal.

Also no longer listed is Finnish company Perstorp, acquired by Industri Kapital and merged into Sydsvenska Kemi. The concentration of the Scandinavian chemical sector has brought one new name to the top listing, that of Dynea International, also controlled by the Industri Kapital private equity fund.

On the positive side, Ineos has seen turnover and ranking rise, thanks to the acquisitions of a controlling stake in EVC and Phenolchemie. Sales for 2001 were $3.9bn, up from 2002's $3.0bn.

This year has seen relatively little M&A activity, so we can predict next year's rankings will reflect the 2001 status quo. DSM has 'swapped' its petrochemicals arm for Roche's vitamins business, BASF and Bayer have upped agrochemicals presence, and several firms have shed activities to the private sector.

The bigger question is what will the impact be in 2003 of the German restructuring? Will Bayer still be at or near the top? Will Polimeri Europa still exist? Who else will be swallowed up in the ongoing restructuring?

TOP EUROPEAN COMPANIES BY 2001 SALES, $m

	Sales ($m)	Change	Operating profit/Ebit  ($m)	Change	Net profit	Change
Company
BASF	28928	-9.6%	542	-78.5%	5214	372.4%
Bayer	26948	-2.2%	1434	-51.0%	859	-46.9%
Atofina	17410	-6.2%	975	-32.7%
Shell	13767	-12.1%	97	-91.3%	230	-76.8%
Akzo Nobel	12559	0.8%	1398	-4.3%	597	-29.1%
BP	11515	2.4%	242	-76.6%
Degussa	11503	1.1%	433	-16.1%	375	3.7%
ICI	9344	-17.1%	631	173.0%	176	-153.1%
Solvay	7766	-1.6%	559	-5.7%	359	-6.9%
Air Liquide	7413	2.8%	1409	5.6%	625	7.7%
DSM	7094	-1.5%	464	-30.6%	1259	144.0%
EMC	7091	-20.1%	-299	na	-508	na
Merck	6701	11.7%	780	17.5%	583	150.2%
Rhodia	6479	-1.9%	14	-96.8%	-190	na
Syngenta	6323	-7.6%	642	-7.4%	223	0.5%
BOC	6110	7.2%	887	7.7%	371	-22.7%
Norsk Hydro	5970	0.6%			223	27.9%
Clariant	5947	-6.7%	677	52.4%	-748	na
Basell	5877		-217	na	-190	na
Celanese	4537	-2.1%	-470	na	-343	na
Ciba Specialty Chemicals	4438	-6.8%	462	-12.4%	230           -15.5%
Ineos	3942	31.4%
Polimeri Europa	3864
Linde	3450	2.5%	512	10.8%
Borealis	3300	-0.1%	48	3.8%	-36	na
MG Technologies	2900	-1.6%			-32            -16.3%
Cognis	2789	-1.9%	155	-21.3%	45	-50.0%
Kemira	2757	-1.3%	162	-17.6%	79	-66.0%
Wacker-Chemie	2514	-7.6%	61	-78.2%	-60	na
Rutgers	2477	-11.0%	29	-79.4%	60	78.6%
Johnson Matthey	2368	-5.3%	216	15.6%
UCB	2203	12.3%	415	23.6%	283	18.5%
Tessenderlo Group	2162	3.7%	122	-19.4%	73             -28.3%
Repsol	2136	-29.4%	-39	na
British Vita	1324	-3.5%	83	-11.5%	50	-20.1%
Avecia	1169	1.8%	631	173.0%	176	-153.1%
Lonza	1125	9.7%	215	9.2%	242	30.1%
EVC	954	-9.2%	-61	na	-77	na
Dynea International	934	-0.5%	14	-171.8%	-45             na
Elementis	771	-7.6%	-1	na	7	-86.3%

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly