Clariant posts surprise full year losses
The Swiss specialty chemicals producer Clariant has posted a surprise net loss of SFr648m (£470 million) for the full year 2002, blaming ‘disappointing’ sales by its
The announcement was made ahead of the publication of company’s annual report for the year, which is due next Tuesday (February 25), and in which it had been expected to report a profit of around SFr250 million. Most of the losses are related to write offs, including the entire CHF790 million in remaining goodwill stemming from its acquisition of BTP fine chemicals in 2000, as well as property, plant and equipment write-offs amounting to CHF100 million.
Sales of the largest Clariant division of Textiles, Leather and Paper Chemicals fell 7% to SF2,110 million in the third quarter.
