Clariant outlines growth strategy

In Switzerland, Clariant leadership highlighted the company’s growth strategy for 2014 onwards. Innovation, they said, is expected to contribute 1-2 percentage points annually to sales growth, thus helping Clariant to achieve its 16-19% EBITDA margin target in 2015 and beyond. For 2014, Clariant targets an EBITDA margin before exceptionals above last year’s 14.1% by focusing on cost efficiency and profitable growth. The company is gearing toward attractive markets and growth regions. In 2014, 62% of investments will be in emerging markets and North America, compared to 36% in 2013. Specific innovation-related investments include:

• New regional headquarters in India, inaugurated in June 2014. The new facility in Navi Mumbai will eventually house around 400 employees across the various service functions and the businesses of Pigments, Additives, Industrial & Consumer Specialties, Masterbatches, and also their technical service teams.

• New Center of Excellence laboratory for Clariant Oil Services in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Business Unit Pigments will operate a Technical Service Center from this location, serving customers throughout South East Asia.

• Investment in extending application and development labs in Indonesia for customers in the personal care and industrial care sectors.

• New state-of-the-art research center for the Catalysts business in Shanghai, China, by 2015. With the goal of developing catalytic solutions tailored to Chinese market requirements, research will primarily focus on coal-based applications.