Clariant to close UK paper chemicals site

29 July 2008 15:55  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Clariant has decided to close down its paper chemicals site in Horsforth near Leeds in the UK following a surge in raw materials pricing, the Switzerland-based chemicals company said on Tuesday.

 

The planned closure was driven by the consolidation of production capacity in optical brightness products, where certain raw material costs had increased four-fold within the last nine months, CEO Jan Secher said in its second-quarter results conference call.

 

Subject to negotiations with the unions, production capacity in part will be moved to sites in Switzerland, Italy and China, resulting in 160 redundancies if the plan goes ahead.

 

Seger said the group had been pursuing aggressive price increases in paper chemicals but margins were still weakening due to rocketing raw materials costs.

 

Outside the closure of the Yorkshire, northern England unit, Clariant's restructuring plan has led to the reduction of 750 positions in the first half of 2008.

 

Since November 2006, Clariant has reduced 1,800 positions of the 2,200 planned before 2010.

 

Clariant said it would pursue further restructuring if necessary, and would do whatever it takes to get back to its 2006 performance levels.

 

The company reported a 42% drop in second-quarter net profits from continuing operations due to negative currency effects and higher restructuring and impairment costs.

 

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By: Mark Watts
+44 20 8652 3214

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