France’s Arkema bullish on 2008 and beyond

05 March 2008 12:57  [Source: ICIS news]

PARIS (ICIS news)--French chemicals group Arkema said on Wednesday it was “very confident” about the prospects for further strong growth after just releasing impressive 2007 results.

 

While sales would probably only grow by just 1-2% in 2008, due to the impact of higher energy costs and exchange rate concerns, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were forecast to grow by at least €80m ($121.5m), said CEO Thierry Le Henaff.

 

“Around €42m of this will come from improved productivity at many of our production sites, €23m from growth in key areas such as hydrogen peroxide and molecular sieves, and €15m from divestments and acquisitions, such as the recently announced purchase of Repsol’s PMMA business,” Le Henaff added.

 

For full-year 2007, the company’s EBITDA climbed 26% to €518m.

 

He predicted that Asia would continue to be the most important growth market for Arkema and that the company would continue to grow its share of the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) market.

 

And the improvement was expected to continue beyond 2008, he said.

 

“We are on track to reach our 2010 targets of 12% EBITDA margin - it was 9% in 2007 and should be 10% in 2008 - and of lower debt levels,” he added.

 

By 2010, the company also expected to have made more acquisitions in speciality polymers, adding €400-500m in sales as a result, he said, though Le Henaff declined to give more details about potential targets, other than to say that the company was looking at firms with a turnover of between €50-200m.

 

And he added that a number of innovations in the pipeline, especially in sustainable production, would also be bearing fruit by 2010.

 

One such innovation was the development of a system that used glycerol to make acrolein and acrylic acid, which he said would help Arkema significantly reduce its own internal energy costs.

 

($1 = €0.66)

By: Chris Jones
+44 20 8652 3214

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