Lanxess AG is increasing its earnings forecast for 2021 following a good first quarter of the year.
Sales and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) before exceptional items are on a par on the first quarter of the company's 2020 financial year. This quarter was unaffected by lockdowns and the other coronavirus restrictions which hit the global economy.
Zachert: increasingly optimistic
The company said that there is growing demand from the automotive sector, which was helping business in its engineering materials division.
"Operationally, we have left coronavirus behind us and are now very confident about the rest of the year," Chairman Matthias Zachert said.
Sales in the engineering materials business rose by 8.6 percent between the first quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, reaching 377 million euros ($457 million). This compares with 347 million euros ($420.7 million) in the equivalent period in 2020.
EBITDA before exceptional items rose by 20.4 percent to 59 million euros ($71.5 million) in the first quarter of 2021. This compares with 49 million euros ($59.4 million) in the 2020 quarter.
Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]