Rhein Chemie posts sales of EUR 281 million in 2008

Singapore, 7 April 2009 - The Rhein Chemie Group has ended the 2008 financial year with worldwide sales of EUR 281 million in comparison to EUR 295 million in the previous year.

“Rhein Chemie performed very well in the first three quarters of 2008. This was marred by a significant fall in sales in the fourth quarter due to the general economic crisis,” said Dr. Anno Borkowsky, CEO and President of Rhein Chemie.

The marked downturn in the automotive industry had a particularly heavy impact on the company’s business. To mitigate the effects of the global recession, a package of structural improvements and HR-related measures was rolled out at the start of February with the aim of lowering cash outs by a single-digit million EUR amount. The measures are part of the global package “CHALLENGE 09” introduced by parent company LANXESS AG.

Despite the difficult economic conditions, Rhein Chemie is pursuing its growth strategy. At the end of 2008, new production facilities were started up as planned at the company’s Mannheim headquarters and in Qingdao, China. The investment for both projects amount to around EUR 12 million.

Rhein Chemie has been manufacturing its globally successful Rhenogran product line at its new state-of-the-art production facility in Mannheim since the end of last year. This line consists of polymer-bound rubber chemicals that are used in the manufacture of tires and seals, for example, and improve the processing and quality of the end product. They also boost cost-effectiveness and help safeguard health and the environment.

At the end of 2008, the newly established company Rhein Chemie LOA (Qingdao) Ltd. began production of customized products and additive formulations for industrial lubricants in the eastern Chinese port of Qingdao. These enhance performance and service life in industrial applications and help protect the environment as they can replace products with poor environmental properties. The new production facility is supplemented by a technical laboratory, where the company can perform a full range of key tests for its Asian customers.

The company has been successfully producing additives and service products for the rubber processing industry in Asia at its Rhein Chemie (Qingdao) Ltd. joint venture for the past ten years.

Rhein Chemie is a company with a successful track record in customized additives and service products stretching back over 100 years. The approximately 850-strong workforce produces and sells products for various sectors of the rubber, lubricants and plastics industries. The company has subsidiaries and production facilities in Europe, Asia as well as North and South America.

LANXESS is a leader in specialty chemicals with sales in 2008 of EUR 6.58 billion and currently around 14,800 employees in 21 countries. The company has operations at 44 sites worldwide. LANXESS’s core business comprises the development, manufacture and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.
More information at http://www.lanxessgoesasia.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by the management of Rhein Chemie Rheinau GmbH. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of our sole stockholder LANXESS Deutschland GmbH and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in LANXESS AG’s reports to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. LANXESS AG and Rhein Chemie Rheinau GmbH assume no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

Maggie Tan
Corporate Communications
LANXESS Pte Ltd
9 Benoi Sector, Singapore 629844
Tel       (65) 6725 5888
Direct   (65) 6725 5821
Fax      (65) 6264 5329
Email   maggie.tan@lanxess.com
Web: http://www.lanxess.com/ , http://www.lanxessgoesasia.com/

This release was published on openPR.