76 Expected Developments
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 2018, we expect the global economy to continue to grow
dynamically. In this environment, we expect ALTANA to achieve
operating sales growth of 2 % to 5 %, with slightly lower
earnings profitability. But acquisitions that were made will tem-
porarily weaken the value management key figures.
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 exist. 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 shortterm
exchange-rate fluctuations.
Overall, we have not found any risks that could endanger the con-
tinued 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 strat-
egy to sustain profitable growth in the coming years as well.