Group Management Report Products Safety and Health Environment Human Resources Social Commitment Consolidated Financial Statements 61
in 2017 was mainly influenced by the acquisition of the
metallography technology of the Israeli company Landa Labs.
The investment ratio, that is the ratio of investments to
sales, was 8.1 % due to strategic growth projects and thus
above our long-term target range of 5 % to 6 %.
Overall, € 171.8 million were invested in property,
plant and equipment (previous year: € 96.4 million). Starting
in 2017, large strategic projects were launched and
advanced that encompass the expansion of manufacturing
and laboratory capacities and that had a decisive influence
on the increase in the investment level. In the past fiscal year,
investments in intangible assets reached € 15.2 million,
after € 91.6 million in 2017. The high level in the previous
year is primarily a result of the acquisition of technology
from the Israeli company Landa Labs.
In the last fiscal year, the regional distribution of investments
changed significantly. The European share fell from
80 % to 51 %, and German sites again accounted for the
largest share. The Americas, however, recorded a signifi-
cant increase of 30 % (previous year: 14 %), while Asia’s share
also rose in the 2018 fiscal year, reaching 18 % (previous
year: 6 %).
In 2018, the BYK division invested a total of € 118.8 million,
about twice as much as in the previous year (€ 58.3
million). The investment activity focused on the expansion of
manufacturing capacities for rheology additives in the U.S.
as well as the building of a new site in Shanghai in order to
concentrate sales and research activities in China at one
site in the future. Further investments involved research and
development capacities at various sites as well as a facility
for carrying out automated product tests on additives at the
Wesel site.
The investment volume in the ECKART division was
€ 23.5 million, higher than in 2017 (previous year: € 17.1 million).
By far the largest share was invested in the division’s
biggest site in Güntersthal, followed by sites in the U.S. and
Switzerland.
The ELANTAS division invested € 22.7 million in property,
plant and equipment and intangible assets, more than in the
previous year (€ 13.8 million). In the past fiscal year the
focus of investment was on the division’s sites in the U.S.,
Italy, Germany, and India.
Investing € 19.2 million, the ACTEGA division’s capital
expenditure was at a much lower level than in 2017
(€ 96.9 million). But the decrease was due solely to the acquisition
in 2017 of the metallography activities and the
technology portfolio for labels and packaging in the U.S. The
capital expenditure in the past fiscal year mainly involved
investment in capacity expansions as well as research and
development labs at the division’s German sites.
Balance Sheet Structure
Key figures
2017 2018 Δ %
in € million
Total assets 3,147.7 3,221.9 2
Shareholders’ equity 2,214.2 2,344.6 6
Net debt (-) /
Net financial assets (+)¹ ( 78.0) ( 95.6) - 23
¹ Comprises cash and cash equivalents, short-term financial assets, marketable securities, loans
granted, debt, and employee benefit obligations.
In the course of the 2018 fiscal year, the ALTANA Group’s
total assets climbed from € 3,147.7 million to € 3,221.9 million.
The increase of € 74.1 million, or 2 %, is mainly due
to continued high investment activity and exchange-rate
effects. Particularly the change of the euro in relation to
the U.S. dollar led to an increase in the carrying amounts of
assets and debts of the U.S. Group companies in the consolidated
financial statements.
Intangible assets fell slightly to € 1,044.2 million (previous
year: € 1,056.9 million). Additions resulted from the
operating business and primarily involved the capitalization of