Solvay announces ‘very good performance’ by the plastics sector

Solvay, the pharmaceuticals, chemicals and plastics giant, has announced its first half results for 2006. With revenues of €4,744 million, the company said this was a 17% increase on last year. Across its sectors, the company reported revenue increases of 44% in pharmaceuticals, 10% in chemicals, and 10% in plastics.

The total revenue for plastics was €1,916 million. The company said its results from speciality polymers and Inergy Automotive Systems were up on the first half of 2005, while results from the vinyl sector had decreased due to “globally lower spreads”. The figures for vinyls had, however, improved in the second quarter of 2006 due to an improvement in results from Europe. Within its speciality polymers sector, the company said that it would be “reinforcing its research and proceeding with production-capacity expansions”. These include the opening of a new technical centre in Shanghai and the construction of a PTFE plant, set for completion in 2007. With headquarters in Brussels, Solvay employs 30,000 people in 50 countries.