News bulletin – chemical distribution

NEWS BULLETIN

CHEMICAL DISTRIBUTION

FIRM HALF FOR DKSH

DKSH has reported first-half net sales of CFr 5.60bn, up 2 per cent year-on-year, with EBIT ahead by 16.6 per cent at CFr 153.3m. “After a successful 2021, we continue moving forward with solid growth and profitability improvements,” says CEO Stefan P Butz. “We accelerated M&A, further digitalised our business, and made good progress in our ESG agenda. We will keep working hard to continue delivering value to all our stakeholders and on our purpose.”

Organic growth contributed 3.0 per cent to sales growth, with acquisitions adding a further 0.7 per cent; this was tempered by the strong Swiss franc, which had a negative impact of 1.7 per cent on the figures.

The strongest performance came from DKSH’s performance materials business unit, which posted an increase in net sales of 13.6 per cent, boosted by positive industrial demand in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. It also continued on its path of consolidating the global specialty chemicals and ingredients market by signing four acquisitions in the first half of 2022. www.dksh.com

DOUBLE DEAL FOR AZELIS

Azelis has agreed to acquire Chemical Solutions, one of the leading distributors of raw materials in the Personal Care, Cosmetics and Household markets in Malaysia. The acquisition, expected to close by the end of September, will strengthen Azelis’ position in the country and reinforce its coverage of the Asia-Pacific region.

“ChemSol’s strong market presence, comprehensive portfolio and innovation capabilities will greatly enhance Azelis’ footprint in Malaysia, along with the addition of their experienced and technically competent team,” says Laurent Nataf, CEO/president of Azelis Asia Pacific. “Our complementary business models also allow us to better support our customers and principals, as they will benefit from our combined technical expertise and compelling expanded product offerings.”

Azelis has also agreed to acquire Dagalti Kauçuk San, a specialty chemicals distributor operating in the Turkish rubber and plastics additives market. The move will strengthen Azelis’ footprint in Turkey and complements its lateral value chain in industrial chemicals.

“Azelis’ focus on innovation, sustainability and digitalisation will trigger additional growth impulses at Dagalti”, says CEO Sadik Dagalti. “We’re excited to become part of the Azelis family and see many synergistic opportunities that will help secure our future. Dagalti has longstanding relationships with principals and customers, and we’re confident that with Azelis, these relationships will only flourish.” www.azelis.com

OQEMA BUILDS ON BASF DEAL

Oqema has expanded its longstanding partnership with BASF, taking on responsibility for distributing its specialty amines portfolio in much of Europe. “Our joint goal is to grow in the upcoming years by leveraging our mutual strengths,” says Dr Michael Limbach, sales director for BASF’s specialty amines business in Europe. “Our partner Oqema helps us to manage complexity in supply chain and customer service, which allows us to focus. We are convinced that this new and higher level of cooperation opens plenty of new business opportunities for BASF’s Specialty Amines portfolio and beyond.”

Tobias Hinz, head of technical applications at Oqema, adds: “We are delighted about the new partnership with our long-term partner BASF. This will give us the opportunity for joint growth and to offer our customers an extended specialty product portfolio and strengthen our position in the market.”

The deal covers the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), the Benelux countries, eastern Europe and the UK and Ireland. oqema.com

BIG QUARTER FOR BRENNTAG

Brenntag has achieved what it calls “very strong” results in the second quarter, despite a “highly challenging” macro-economic market environment. Operating gross profit rose by 28 per cent year-on-year, reaching €1.14bn on sales of €5.06bn, and operating EBITDA was up 41 per cent at €533.8m.

“Brenntag continues on its growth path, achieving very strong results in the second quarter of 2022 with excellent organic growth in both divisions,” comments Christian Kohlpaintner, CEO. “We are particularly pleased by the progress of our ambitious transformation program Project Brenntag, which will achieve our targets already by the end of 2022, one year ahead of plan.”

“In the highly challenging environment of the first half of 2022, product availability as well as prompt and reliable delivery were once again key for Brenntag’s success,” adds CFO Kristin Neumann. The company notes that both its divisions, Brenntag Specialties and Brenntag Essentials, experienced “inflationary cost development” as well as supply shortages and higher transport costs over the quarter. Despite that, Brenntag Specialties managed to increase operating gross profit by 42.2 per cent and operating EBITDA by 55.5 per cent compared to second quarter 2021, driven primarily by organic growth. Brenntag Essentials was impacted by the return of lockdowns in China during the quarter, which held back EBITDA growth to 29.6 per cent.

Moving into the third quarter, Brenntag has already lined up a number of new distribution agreements that will help it meet its target of full-year EBITDA of €1.75bn to €1.85bn. Brenntag Specialties has been named exclusive distributor of Nouryon’s specialty polymers in North America. “The addition of the LumaTreat™ polymers to our expanding portfolio gives our company another innovative tool to help solve scale and deposit issues in a multitude of industrial water treatment applications,” states Brian Liotta, director of water treatment at Brenntag Americas. “The ability to reduce treatment costs through accurate monitoring also provides opportunities for reduced water use and helps with overall sustainability goals.”

Brenntag Specialties has also expanded its distribution agreement with ISCA, a leading manufacturer of preservatives for the cosmetics industry, to include several countries in Europe and has become the exclusive distributor of Tolsa’s functional additives in the US and Canada. Brenntag Essentials, meanwhile, has picked up a distribution deal with Azomite Mineral Products covering the mid-south US. corporate.brenntag.com

BARENTZ BUYS IN BRAZIL

Barentz, in collaboration with its local joint venture partner Tovani Benzaquen, has acquired Volp Indústria e Comércio, a leading Brazilian distributor of supplies and solutions for the personal care segment. Founded almost 30 years ago and headquartered in Osasco, São Paulo state, Volp has developed substantial expertise in the sector and has its own development and application laboratories.

“The great team and expertise of Volp, their strong customer base and the complementary product portfolio will not only strengthen our existing offering in the Brazilian market, but also present new opportunities in the South American region. This is in line with Barentz’s continuous growth ambitions and strategy,” states Hidde van der Wal, Barentz CEO.

Sérgio Nunes, director of Volp, adds: “This acquisition by Barentz and Tovani means a great opportunity to further grow in the local and regional markets. We are looking forward to using their extensive knowledge and other opportunities to leverage our personal care expertise within Barentz’ regional and global network.” www.barentz.com