Ems-Chemie sells slightly less

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Sales in Swiss francs in the first quarter of 2023 fell 3.8 percent to 614 million, as Ems announced on Thursday. However, sales in local currencies increased by 0.9 percent. Ems is not releasing its first quarter earnings figures.

However, sales figures fell short of analysts’ expectations.

Looking at the company’s two business areas, they developed differently: Sales of high-performance polymers fell 2.1 percent to CHF 554 million. In the specialty chemicals business, Ems saw a decrease in sales of about 17 percent to CHF 60 million.

According to Ems, this was due to difficult market conditions in all downstream markets. Especially in the specialty chemicals business, the “heavy focus on the European and Asian intermediate markets” negatively affected sales.

The first few months in China were characterized by high numbers of Covid 19 infections. Although a recovery began after the Chinese public holidays, it was more restrained than expected.

Inflation and continuing uncertainty in Europe are putting pressure on consumer spending. According to the information provided, demand in the US remained stable in the first three months. But rising interest rates could slow sales, according to Ems. After all, the global chip shortage in the auto industry is now “largely resolved”.

These trends are likely to continue: The company expects the economy in Europe to remain under pressure and a “heavy” recovery in China. In the US, willingness to spend depends on the evolution of inflation and related interest rates.

Due to the current economic difficulties, Ems is lowering its targets for this year. The specialty chemicals company expects EBIT for net sales and an operating result “slightly” below the previous year.

In 2022, Ems had sales of 2.44 billion francs and a profit of 535 million francs.

As Ems also explained, the search for a new chief financial officer was successful. Olivier Minger will join Ems Group as a board member and CFO no later than 1 November 2023.

He is currently CFO at Perlen Packaging. He takes over responsibility as CFO from Peter Germann, who has held this position on an interim basis since April 1, 2023. Former CFO Oliver Flühler left the company at the end of March 2023 after nine months of service.

(SDA)

Source :Blick