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Brief assessment from SRF business editor Iwan Lieberherr:
Clariant is shrinking. According to its own statements, the group focuses on “higher quality” specialties, for example in the area of consumer goods (chemical care products). About a third of the business volume is being sold: the pharmaceutical packaging (sanitary packaging) and color granules (masterbatch) business has already been sold and the pigments business is still pending.
In the context of these sales, it is understandable that the structure of the group is now also adjusting, in other words: streamlined. Clariant herself speaks of a “restructuring program”. That means: The company is making a new suit because the old one has gotten too big. That may sound cynical to the ears of about a thousand employees who lose their jobs or, if they are lucky, find a new employer. From a company point of view, the painful change in size is understandable. If the volume of business is lower, for example, a smaller administrative apparatus is also required.
According to its own statements, Clariant wants to be able to grow above average in the future after the dismantling and restructuring of its own business: that is, to concentrate on the raisins of the chemical business. Investors seem to approve of this strategy: Stocks rise slightly in early trading.
