Total revenues of the Performance & Life Science Chemicals division rose 21% to EUR 360 million in the second quarter of 2010, topping the record high set in the first quarter of this year. Revenues grew organically by 12% and a favorable currency effect added another 7.4%. First-half total revenues were up 17% to EUR 705 million.
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Performance & Life Science Chemicals | Key figures |
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EUR million |
2nd quarter |
Change |
Jan.–June |
Change |
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Total revenues |
359.9 |
20.9 |
705.5 |
17.1 |
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Gross margin |
189.3 |
43.9 |
379.5 |
36.5 |
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Research and development |
–13.8 |
11.9 |
–28.1 |
6.6 |
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Operating result |
47.2 |
163.3 |
102.1 |
140.7 |
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Exceptional items |
– |
– |
– |
– |
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Free cash flow |
56.7 |
11.1 |
79.4 |
81.0 |
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Underlying free cash flow |
56.7 |
11.1 |
79.4 |
81.0 |
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ROS in % |
13.1 |
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14.5 |
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All three business units and all regions contributed to this success. Sales by the Pigments business unit were especially high compared to last year as demand in both the automotive and cosmetics industries returned to, or even exceeded, levels prior to last year’s economic crisis.
Performance & Life Science Chemicals | Sales by Region – Q2
The growth is due mainly to higher volumes so that production capacity is being fully utilized and the level of back orders is increasing in some areas. With production costs only slightly higher than a year ago, the gross margin rose 44% to EUR 189 million in the second quarter. Research and development costs rose 12% to EUR 14 million.
With revenues and the gross margin increasing faster than costs, the division’s operating result more than doubled to EUR 47 million in the second quarter of 2010 compared to just EUR 18 million in the year-ago quarter. For the first half, the operating result was EUR 102 million, more than twice the EUR 42 million of the year-ago period.
This led to a second-quarter ROS of 13.1% compared to 6.0% in the second quarter of last year. First-half ROS was 14.5% in 2010 versus 7.0% in 2009.
The division’s free cash flow was EUR 57 million in the second quarter of 2010 and EUR 79 million in the first half of the year.
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