• Demanding market environment but improvements in Masterbatches

• Strategic decision to establish subsidiaries for Plastics & Coatings

In the Business Area Plastics & Coatings sales in local currencies grew slightly by 1% (–5% in CHF) compared to the previous year, despite the very demanding environment. Sales growth in Masterbatches was supported by good growth in Medical Specialties and Packaging. Additives sales were slightly below the previous year. Growth in Waxes could not compensate for weaker demand in Flame Retardants. In Pigments the very challenging environment persisted given the weak demand in Europe and China.

The EBITDA margin before exceptional items of 12.8% was below the previous year’s 14.0%. The profitability of all three Business Units remained below the previous year due to the increasingly challenging markets, especially in Pigments throughout 2015.

Pigments will focus on growth projects like the forward integration with pigment preparations leveraging its broad regional and application coverage, taking advantage of Clariant’s formulation know-how and global footprint. Market penetration with innovative Easy Dispersible Pigments (ED Pigments) will continue.

Masterbatches expects further growth driven by capacity expansion projects like the new manufacturing plant for Medical Masterbatches in Cuddalore (India), for moisture-control products used in pharmaceutical packaging that will support the growing generic pharmaceutical industry in India.

In Additives, the solutions called AddWorks, which combine several functionalities in application specific products, are expected to provide additional growth.