Group Management Report Corporate Governance Environment, Safety, and Corporate Social Responsibility Consolidated Financial Statements 65 Company Acquisitions and Portfolio Measures Acquisitions play a key role in ALTANA’s long-term value cre- ation. In recent years, we have continually advanced the Group strategically due to acquisitions. At the same time, we cleansed our portfolio of those activities that were not in line with our strategic aims and for which there were no long- term value-creation perspectives within the Group. In the future, we intend to continue to boost our growth by acquiring companies and activities. This is an essential prerequisite for us to achieve our strategic growth targets. Should opportunities arise in the future that exceed our expectations, these new activities could help us strengthen our market positions and open up new market segments. This, in turn, could help us achieve our strategic targets more quickly. Synergies The ALTANA Group is decentralized to a large extent. Still, in some areas of the value-creation chain and in certain man- agement functions, central units support the divisions and play a coordinating role. If we manage to push forward the networks within the Group more strongly than expected, this may spawn further potential to improve efficiency. The Management Board’s Overall Statement on the Anticipated Development of the Group Including Its Overall View of the Risk and Opportunity Situation In 2016, we expect the economy to show growth similar to that of the previous year. In this environment, we expect slight operating sales growth and improved earnings profitability. Due to the high stability of our operating capital, the key figures for value management should improve slightly. We believe that the risk of burdens from a muted or even reces- sive development of the global economy or in important core regions continues to be palpable. In addition, considerable risks to our short-term sales and earnings performance are posed by the higher price volatility on the raw-materials markets and by short-term exchange-rate fluctuations. Overall, we have not found any risks that could endanger the continued existence of the company. The risks we face are set against numerous opportunities that could enable us to achieve sales and earnings performance surpassing our forecasts. In sum, we expect to be able to successfully implement our strategy to sustain profitable growth in the coming years as well.
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