Specialty chemicals company LANXESS reported an increase in earnings for the financial year 2024, supported by internal cost-saving measures and improved capacity utilisation. The company posted EBITDA pre exceptionals of EUR 614 million, a 19.9 percent increase from the previous year’s EUR 512 million. This rise came despite a 5.2 percent decline in annual sales, which dropped to EUR 6.366 billion due to lower selling prices linked to reduced raw material and energy costs.
The company’s EBITDA margin pre exceptionals improved to 9.6 percent, up from 7.6 percent in 2023. LANXESS attributed this performance largely to its “FORWARD!” action plan, launched in mid-2023 to counteract economic headwinds. The plan helped the company reduce annual costs by EUR 110 million in 2024, exceeding the initial target of EUR 90 million.
Looking ahead, LANXESS has set an EBITDA pre exceptionals guidance of EUR 600 million to EUR 650 million for 2025. This represents a portfolio-adjusted operational growth of approximately 10 percent. The forecast accounts for the planned divestment of the Urethane Systems business, which contributed around EUR 50 million to earnings in 2024 and is expected to be sold to Japan’s UBE Corporation in April 2025.
The company also reported a 4.7 percent reduction in net financial debt, which fell to EUR 2.381 billion at the end of 2024, down from EUR 2.498 billion the previous year. This was supported by a free cash flow of EUR 188 million.
LANXESS plans to maintain its dividend at EUR 0.10 per share for 2024, matching the previous year. The proposed dividend payout of approximately EUR 9 million reflects the company’s focus on further reducing debt. The proposal will be submitted to shareholders at the Annual Stockholders’ Meeting on May 22, 2025.
With the expected sale of the Urethane Systems business, LANXESS is set to complete its transformation into a pure specialty chemicals company. The business unit currently operates five production sites and employs about 400 people globally.
In the Consumer Protection segment, sales declined by 11.1 percent to EUR 2.081 billion, while EBITDA pre exceptionals fell 7.7 percent to EUR 286 million. The decrease was mainly attributed to continued weak demand from agrochemical customers. However, the EBITDA margin rose slightly from 13.2 percent to 13.7 percent.
Sales in the Specialty Additives segment dropped by 5.0 percent to EUR 2.209 billion, mainly due to lower selling prices. Despite this, the segment reported an 8.6 percent rise in EBITDA pre exceptionals to EUR 227 million, with the margin improving to 10.3 percent from 9.0 percent.
The Advanced Intermediates segment saw a modest recovery in demand, pushing sales up by 1.6 percent to EUR 1.804 billion. EBITDA pre exceptionals surged 73.6 percent to EUR 210 million, supported by higher capacity utilization and cost savings. The EBITDA margin rose from 6.8 percent to 11.6 percent.