Group Management Report Products Safety and Health Environment Human Resources Social Commitment Consolidated Financial Statements 55
ments of important non-euro Group companies on items of
the income statement were generally negative in 2018.
However, differences in exchange rates on the balance-sheet
date had a positive influence on the balance-sheet positions
compared to the previous year.
Business Performance
Group Sales Performance
Group sales amounted to € 2,307.4 million in 2018, a 3 %
or € 60.4 million increase over the previous year (€ 2,247.0
million). Non-operating effects generally had a positive
influence on the sales development. The acquisition of the
PolyAd companies (BYK division) in 2017 and the new
activities in the ELANTAS division acquired in the U.S. and
China resulted in a sales increase of 1 % over the previous
year due to the fact that they were included in the consolidated
financial statements for a full calendar year for the
first time. But the positive acquisition effects were more than
offset by burdens from exchange-rate changes. Sales
drops resulted primarily from the changed relations of the
euro to the U.S. dollar, to the Chinese renminbi, and to
the Brazilian real, amounting to 2 % in total. Adjusted for
these non-operating effects, operating sales grew by 4 %
in a year-to-year comparison. As a result, we achieved sales
growth within the 2 % to 5 % range we had anticipated
for 2018 at the beginning of the year.
The operating growth was driven almost exclusively
by higher sales prices and slightly positive product-mix effects.
The sales volume did not change much compared to 2017,
however. But these influences generally developed unevenly
within the Group.
The regional volume and sales structure shifted only
slightly vis-à-vis 2017. Accounting for 38 % of total Group
sales, as in the previous year, Europe continued to be
Key figures
2017 2018 Δ % Δ % op.¹
in € million
Sales 2,247.0 2,307.4 3 4
Earnings before interest,
taxes, depreciation and
amortization (EBITDA) 470.0 430.6 - 8 - 8
EBITDA margin 20.9 % 18.7 %
Operating income (EBIT) 335.9 295.8 - 12 - 12
EBIT margin 14.9 % 12.8 %
Earnings before taxes
(EBT) 306.0 264.1 - 14 - 14
EBT margin 13.6 % 11.4 %
Net income (EAT) 234.6 187.0 - 20
EAT margin 10.4 % 8.1 %
¹ Operating deviation, i. e. adjusted for acquisition and divestment as well as exchange-rate
effects. This adjustment also applies to other sections of this management report.
ALTANA’s most important sales market. Both nominal sales
(+ 3 %) and operating sales growth (+ 2 %) in Europe was
higher than in the previous year. Sales developed positively
in most of ALTANA’s important sales markets in the region.
Only in Germany, Great Britain, Turkey, and a few Eastern
European countries were sales down on 2017.
Sales in the Americas remained almost the same as in
the previous year, after business had grown significantly
in 2017. Adjusted for positive acquisition and negative exchange
rate effects, sales grew by 3 % in operating terms.
Operating
sales growth in the U.S. – still ALTANA’s largest
sales market, accounting for 19 % of total sales – reached
2 %. A main reason for the increase was an increase in oil
and gas exploration activities. On account of the increase
in annual-average crude-oil prices new mining sources were
tapped in the U.S., and thus the demand for specialty
products
from the BYK division was higher than in the previous
year. In Brazil and other important Latin American