Lanxess starts operating independently
Lanxess, the future company where the Bayer Group will combine almost all areas of its chemicals business and parts of its polymers activities, began operating as an independent unit on 1 July 2004.
Lanxess, the future company where the Bayer Group will combine almost all areas of its chemicals business and parts of its polymers activities, began operating as an independent unit on 1 July 2004.
For the moment the new structure only applies internally. 'We've reached an important milestone for the realignment of the Group on schedule,' said Werner Wenning, chairman of the Bayer board of management.
The company is scheduled to be listed on the stock exchange at the beginning of 2005. The decision as to whether this will take place via an IPO or a spin-off will be taken over the coming weeks. Until the stock market flotation, Lanxess will operate under the umbrella of the Bayer AG holding company.
With sales of around €6bn and around 20,000 employees, of whom some 11,000 are in Germany, Lanxess will be one of the leading chemicals companies in Europe. Bayer will in future concentrate its resources on the innovative areas of health care, nutrition and high quality materials. 'I'm convinced that both companies will enjoy considerable success in the future,' said Wenning.
Despite a 2.1% decline in sales to €1.478bn (2.2% up in local currencies), the consolidated business results for Lanxess in the first quarter of 2004 showed a 5.4% improvement in EBITDA to €136m. Compared with the same period in 2003, the EBIT grew by €58m to €75m.