Group Management Report Products Safety and Health Environment Human Resources Social Commitment Consolidated Financial Statements 59
es and higher consulting costs. The ratio of research and
development costs to total sales decreased from 7.5 % to
6.7 % due to the high sales growth in 2021, but remains
in line with our target of around 7 %.
Administrative expenses increased compared with the
previous year. Here, too, the main reasons were higher
personnel expenses and consulting costs. However, the ratio
of administrative expenses to sales decreased from 4.8 %
to 4.4 %.
The balance of other operating income and expenses
improved compared to the previous year due to the discontinuation
of the amortization of goodwill at ECKART,
which was a significant component of this item in the previous
year. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amount-
ed to € 322.8 million, 77 % higher in operational terms than
in the previous year (€ 185.7 million).
At € - 2.0 million, the financial result was higher than
the previous year’s figure of € - 4.2 million. The result of
companies accounted for using the at-equity method changed
from € - 38.9 million in the previous year to € - 45.8 million
in the 2021 fiscal year. The largest share of this figure relates
to our investment in Landa Corporation Ltd.
Earnings before taxes (EBT) increased to € 275.0 million
(previous year: € 142.7 million), and earnings after taxes
(EAT) to € 195.2 million (previous year: € 75.1 million). The
adjusted income tax rate was slightly lower than in the
previous year.
Asset and Financial Situation
Capital Expenditure
In the past fiscal year, ALTANA invested a total of € 149.3 million
in intangible assets and property, plant and equipment.
Of this amount, € 46.3 million were spent on acquiring intangible
assets and property, plant and equipment in connec-
tion with the acquisition of business activities in the ACTEGA
Capital expenditure by division
1
2
3
4 ¹
24.3 %
11.2 %
41.2 %
5 4.9 % 18.4 %
in € million 2020 2021 Δ %
1 BYK 42.8 42.6 0
2 ECKART 26.3 24.9 - 5
3 ELANTAS 14.4 11.5 - 20
4 ACTEGA 16.1 65.2 > 100
5 Holding 5.6 5.0 - 10
Total 105.2 149.3 42
¹ Excluding acquisition-related investments
division. At € 103.0 million, capital expenditure adjusted
for this special item was slightly lower than in the previous
year (€ 105.2 million). The adjusted investment ratio, that
is the ratio of capital expenditures to sales, at 3.9 %, was also
below our long-term target range of 5 % to 6 % due to
the high sales growth.
Of the € 103.0 million invested, € 93.5 million (previous
year: € 96.3 million) related to property, plant and equipment.
For several years, major projects have been carried out
to strategically expand global production and laboratory
capacities. Investments in intangible assets totaled € 9.5 million
in the past fiscal year, compared to € 8.9 million
in 2020.
In the regional distribution of investments, there was a
project-related shift in favor of Europe vis-à-vis the pre-
vious year. While the America’s share decreased from 31 %
in 2020 to 27 % in the reporting year, Europe’s share grew