Cognis functional products business unit – which includes its synthetic lubricants, mining technology, AgroSolutions and polymers, coatings and inks businesses – on Thursday reported sales of 665 million (U.S. $977 million) for the first nine months of 2007, up 3.4 percent from 643 million in the year-earlier period.
On an organic basis – meaning sales excluding the negative effects of foreign currencytransactions andof acquisitions and divestitures – the functional products unit grew 4.4 percent to 688 million (U.S. $1.1 billion) for the first nine months of 2007.
Agrochemical solutions and synthetic lubricants made a particularly significant contribution to this growth, the company noted.
Dusseldorf, Germany-based Cognis as a whole reported nine-month sales of 2.7 billion, up 3.9 percent from the year-earlier period. The company reportednet profit of 21 million for the three quarters before one-time items, a 16 percent increase over the year-earlier results. After accounting for the effects of exceptional items, including depreciation of financing fees and revaluation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, Cognis reported a loss of 82 million for the period.
We are currently confronted with a number of challenging factors simultaneously, but we have been able to counteract the effect of these by improving our position in our key markets driven by the wellness and sustainability trends, by successful cost management, and by partially offsetting the increases in raw material costs, said Cognis Chief Executive Officer Antonio Trius. We expect sales and earnings to keep increasing, in spite of the tough general market conditions.
Cognis Synlubes Technology business markets four main brands. Its Synative brand products include base oils for high-performance lubricants, hydraulic and transmission fluids, oleochemical raw materials such as esters, fatty acids and fatty alcohols for lubricant production, and additive components for fuels and metalworking fluids.
The companys Emgard line includes compounded synthetic lubricants for gearboxes and transmissions, axle oils, air compressors and industrial applications.
Its Breox polyalkylene glycol base fluids, premixes and compounded lubricants are supplied for transportation, industrial lubricants, hydraulic fluids, process oils and other applications. Uses for its ProEco compounded lubricants and base fluids include refrigeration and air conditioning compressors and transformer oils.
Cognis Synlubes Technology has production and service sites in Canada, the United States, Brazil, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, U.K. and China. In addition to its Synlubes business, Cognis supplies specialty chemicals to a wide range of industries.