Clariant Defies the Odds with Impressive Sales Performance in a Challenging Environment

Germany- Clariant has released its first quarter sales report for 2023, revealing a total of CHF 1.200 billion in sales. While this marks a 5% decrease in sales in Swiss francs compared to the previous year's first quarter, there was a 1% increase in local currency. The positive impact of pricing was 7%, while the consolidation of the US Attapulgite business contributed an additional 1%. However, there was a 7% decrease in volumes. The Business Unit Catalysts saw strong sales growth, which partially offset slight decreases in the Care Chemicals and Adsorbents & Additives Business Units. The currency impact on the quarter was -6%.

In Q1 of 2023, the Europe, Middle East & Africa region experienced flat sales in local currency with Catalysts sales increasing while Care Chemicals and Adsorbents & Additives weakened at low and mid-single-digit percentage rates, respectively. However, sales in the Americas grew by 7%, primarily driven by pricing impacts in Care Chemicals and Adsorbents & Additives, as well as the acquisition of US Attapulgite business assets.

The US saw a 3% increase in sales and Brazil experienced a 5% growth. Meanwhile, sales in Asia-Pacific decreased by 4%, mainly due to a slow recovery in China resulting in a 16% decline in sales, although this was partly countered by higher sales in India and Southeast Asia.

In the first quarter of 2023, there was a 2% decrease in local currency sales for Care Chemicals, primarily due to a decline in volume and lower sales in both Consumer Care and Industrial Applications. This was compared to a challenging comparison base. On the other hand, Catalysts sales experienced an 18% increase in local currency with growth in all business segments. However, Adsorbents & Additives sales saw a 5% decrease in local currency, mainly because of weaker demand for additives, particularly against a very strong first quarter in 2022.

Group EBITDA experienced a decline of 24% to CHF 167 million, resulting in a margin of 13.9%, which is lower than the previous year's first-quarter margin of 17.4%. Although pricing measures helped maintain profitability, they were not sufficient to fully offset the adverse effects of reduced volumes that affected production utilization in select businesses.