Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Management Board
2017 marked the 40th anniversary of the founding of the ALTANA Group. Although
the roots of our company actually date back much further – the BYK and ECKART divisions
were established back in the 19th century – this anniversary is a milestone in ALTANA’s
success story. Looking back, we can see that the qualities that characterize our company
were especially clear in 2017.
In the last fiscal year, we once again demonstrated our innovation potential, not only
through our own research and development, but also by strengthening our company with
acquisitions. In doing so, we also entered new territory. For example, we significantly
increased our basic research by cooperating with universities within the framework of the
ALTANA Institute. In addition, the founding of ACTEGA Metal Print gave rise to the
first startup company in the ALTANA Group.
Owing to our customer proximity and service orientation, we were able to take advantage
of various business opportunities in our markets. We increased our operating sales
by 7 percent and our nominal sales by 8 percent, thus exceeding our growth targets substantially.
Acquisitions by BYK and ELANTAS also contributed to this development.
The driving force behind our dynamic profitable growth is our largest division, BYK, which
broke the one billion Euro sales mark at the end of 2017. And the division keeps
on growing, due, for example, to large expansion projects in Shanghai and Gonzales in
the U.S.
The other divisions also contributed to our growth or paved the way for future expansion.
In 2017, ECKART boosted its sales more substantially than it had for a long time.
ELANTAS is particularly benefitting from the demand in China and is further expanding its
site in Tongling. And in a challenging business environment, ACTEGA continues to in-
vest in the future, for example in the modernization of production and research in Bremen.
However, we not only aim to ensure our company’s long-term economic success, but
also to be sustainable in every respect. Thus, as a member of UN Global Compact, ALTANA