International. Specialty chemicals company Clariant announced its 2012 results in which it had continuing sales of $6.5 billion, compared to $6 billion in the previous period.
This corresponds to an increase of 8 per cent in national currency and Swiss francs. The increase was driven by the acquisition of Süd-Chemie, while organic growth remained stable, with 2% of the highest prices offsetting the lower volumes.
Sales development in 2012 was heterogeneous across regions and companies. From a regional perspective, all regions except Europe had double-digit growth. Europe declined by 2%, while growth dynamics in Asia-Pacific remained strong throughout the year. The pronounced weakness in southern Europe has spread across the continent in the second half of the year. However, with close to two-thirds of sales generated outside Europe, the impact of the European crisis on Clariant was offset by growth in the other regions.
