Issue 7/2019 - Chemical giants at a glance

LANXESS sales in 2018 increased by 10.
2 percent year-on-year to EUR 7,197 million, EBITDA from ordinary business increased by 9.
8 percent to EUR 1,016 million, EBITDA from ordinary business reached 14.
1 percent and net income increased significantly to EUR 431 million
.
The good operating performance was particularly due to the operational strength of the three business segments of High-Quality Intermediates, Specialty Additives and Engineering Materials, as well as the integration of Chemtura and the acquisition of the phosphorus additives business
from Solvay.
Despite the weak economy, LANXESS is off to a good
start in the new year.
LANXESS expects full-year 2019 EBITDA in its regular business area to be close to the level of
the same period last year.


Shell Shell's 2018 performance exceeded market expectations
due to significant cuts in oil and gas production costs and large-scale divestitures.
Shell achieved revenue of US$396.
556 billion in 2018, a year-on-year increase of 27.
2%; Net income rose 36 percent to $21.
4 billion, the highest annual profit
since 2014.
For the first quarter of 2019, Shell expects overall natural gas and upstream production to decline
due to divestitures.
In addition, due to the company's divestiture of operations in Argentina, sales of petroleum products in the first quarter of this year fell
year-on-year.


Yip's Chemical Benefiting from the continued strong growth of solvent sales, Yip's Chemical's sales in 2018 increased by 20.
5% year-on-year to HK$12.
4 billion; Sales rose 9% to a record high
of 1.
39 million tonnes.
The company remains cautiously optimistic about business prospects, on the one hand, to accelerate the optimization of the quality of the main business, on the other hand to develop new businesses
with good prospects.