ALTANA
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Amounting to € 89.8 million, capital expenditure on intangible assets and property, plant and equipment was only slightly below the previous year’s figure (€ 93.5 million). It was not possible, however, to implement all of the projects in the planned scope or the planned time frame. Therefore, our capital expenditure in 2012 was lower than we had expected in the outlook section of the 2011 annual report (around € 100 million). Comprising 5.3 % of Group sales, investments remained within our strategic target range of 5 % to 6 %, though.

Of the total capital expenditure, € 77.4 million were invested in property, plant and equipment (previous year: € 81.9 million). In all of our divisions, we purposefully expanded the existing production capacities and implemented efficiency measures. Another focus of our investment activity was the expansion of capacities in the area of technology and product development. Group-wide, we invested a total of € 12.4 million (previous year: € 11.6 million) in intangible assets, particularly in the continuous expansion and optimization of our ERP structures in 2012.

As the largest part of our production infrastructure is in Germany, more than half of our investments were made in German sites. We also made significant investments in the U.S., China, Italy, and the Netherlands.

In the Additives & Instruments division, investments focused on the expansion of production capacities for special plastic modifiers at the site of BYK Kometra, which we acquired in 2011. In addition, the first steps were implemented within the framework of the extensive expansion of the production capacities for coatings and plastics additives in the U.S. The division also invested in expansions and efficiency measures implemented at all of its sites. In all, Additives & Instruments’ capital expenditure amounted to € 33.6 million in 2012 (previous year: € 45.4 million).

The Effect Pigments division’s capital expenditure amounted to € 26.5 million in the business year 2012 (previous year: € 21.5 million). The largest share was invested in the division’s biggest production site in Güntersthal. Investment focuses included efficiency measures in the production of gold-bronze pigments and expenditure for implementing ERP systems. Major investment projects were also implemented at the sites in the U.S. and Switzerland. Due to the division’s high degree of value creation in the production of effect pigments, regular replacement and expansion measures accounted for a large part of its investment activity again in 2012.

At € 19.9 million, the Electrical Insulation division’s capital expenditure was higher than in the previous year (€ 17.7 million). The increase was due on the one hand to the expansion of the ERP systems at the division’s Italian sites. On top of that, investments were made to modernize research and development as well as administrative facilities Group Management Report Corporate Governance Environmental Protection, Safety, and Corporate Social Responsibility Consolidated Financial Statements 49 at our U.S. site, and to expand production and development capacities in Germany and Italy.

The capital expenditure of the Coatings & Sealants division amounted to € 9.4 million in 2012 (previous year: € 7.8 million). Investments were made at all of the division’s major sites.