Sustainable development and advanced materials drive the growth

2016 was a record year for materials manufacturer Covestro. Driven by demand for innovative materials, the group’s core volumes increased by 7.5%. With greater capacity utilization across its plants, adjusted Ebitda surged by 22.7% above the 2015 figure to 2.0 billion euros. Net income more than doubled from 343 million to 795 million euros. On this basis, Covestro plans to pay its shareholders a dividend of 1.35 euros per share. “Growing customer demand for our innovative and sustainable products shows that we are increasingly successful at replacing conventional materials with superior plastics”, explains CEO Patrick Thomas.

The company was able to consistently increase sales volumes and further improve utilization of existing production capacity. Covestro also began the expansion of its capacity in high-growth regions at an early stage in order to meet increasing demand. This is particularly true of the Asian market, where the company put a plant into operation producing raw materials for coatings (HDI) and doubling its polycarbonates capacity.

In Europe, the production platform is being further optimized. The expansion of production capacity for the rigid foam precursor MDI at the Brunsbüttel (Germany) site was initiated in June. Capacity will double to 400,000 metric tons per year by 2018. In addition, Covestro proved in 2016 that carbon dioxide can be used as a raw material for market-ready products: at Dormagen (Germany) last year, the company put into operation the world’s first industrial production facility to use carbon dioxide as a raw material for flexible foam components.

In 2016, Covestro’s polyurethanes segment achieved year-on-year core volume growth of 7.7%, driven by a strong increase in all product groups, particularly in the MDI product group. Demand was driven by key industries such as the automotive and construction sectors. Core volume growth in polycarbonates was 10.3% year-on-year. Once more, sales volumes increased sharply, particularly in the Apac and Nafta regions. In the Coatings, Adhesives, Specialties (CAS) segment, core volumes remained stable.

In 2017, Covestro will continue to work on developing innovative materials. “With our clear focus on sustainable growth in line with global macro trends, we have established a strong position for profiting from long-term market developments. We therefore face 2017 with great confidence”, states Patrick Thomas.