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Noveon posts record second-quarter sales levelFor the quarter ended 30 June 2003, Noveonreported sales of US$294.0 million, EBITDA of$52.4 million and net income of $10.7 million.This compares to sales of $280.9 million, EBIT-DA of $57.6 million and net income of $15.8million for the same period last year. Noveonrecorded restructuring charges in the quarter of$1.0 million. For the first six months of 2003,the company posted a reduced net income of$16.0 million on sales up 7% to $576.3 million.

The 5% increase took 2Q sales to record levels,reflecting the stronger Euro, acquisition-relatedrevenue and higher volumes across most ofNoveon’s portfolio. Most product lines exhibit-ed organic volume growth during the quarter,giving a fifth consecutive quarter of salesgrowth. EBITDA excluding special items of$53.4 million decreased 10% from 2Q 2002 assignificantly higher raw material and utilitycosts and lower Performance Coatings volumesmore than offset higher volumes across manyproduct lines, continued manufacturing produc-tivity, lower selling, general and administrativeexpenses and the strength of the Euro. TheSpecialty Materials segment, which housesGreat Lakes’ polymer additives products,reported a sales increase of 5% to $110.8 mil-lion from $105.8 million in 2Q 2002. EBITDAfell by 7% to $28.7 million in 2Q 2003.

Contact: Noveon Inc, 9911 Brecksville Road,Cleveland, OH 44141, USA; tel: +1-216-447-5000; URL: www.noveoninc.com

NEWS AND VIEWS

New leadership, award forClariant Pigments & AdditivesThree of the four Business Units (BU) estab-lished by the restructuring of Clariant’s Pigments& Additives Division (November 2003, p. 5)have new leadership as of 1 July 2003. ThePlastic Industries BU is now headed up by DrAlexander Sieber, who has worked for Clariantand its forerunner Hoechst AG for more than 20

Contact: Albemarle Corp, 451 Florida Street,Baton Rouge, LA 70801-1765, USA; tel: +1-225-388-7402; fax: +1-225-388-7848; URL:www.albemarle.com

Sales rise but income declinesfor Great LakesGreat Lakes Chemical Corp posted 2Q 2003 netsales from continuing operations of US$416.7million, a 2% increase, compared to $408.5 mil-lion reported in the corresponding period last year.Excluding the positive effects of foreign currencytranslation and acquisitions, net sales decreased4% during 2Q 2003. Income from continuingoperations fell from $22.1 million in 2Q 2002 to$16.9 million for the same quarter this year.

Commenting, Mark Bulriss, Great Lakes chair-man, president and CEO, said that the 2Q resultswere adversely affected by softening end marketdemand and persistently higher raw material andenergy costs. This was said to have particularlyaffected the company’s Polymer Additives busi-ness, which reported 2Q 2003 net sales down by2% to $187.3 million, from $191.8 million in 2Q2002. The positive effects of foreign currencytranslation and higher selling prices were morethan offset by volume declines in the flameretardants business, reflecting softening demandin key end markets such as consumer electronicsand automotive. Excluding currency effects, netsales decreased 8% in the quarter. The decline inoperating income in 2Q 2003 compared to 2Q2002 reflects the lower sales volumes and con-tinued higher raw material and energy costs.

Bulriss says the company is addressing structur-al costs and key business processes with greaterurgency, targeting those parts of the companyfacing the greatest economic challenges andwhere the opportunity exists to reduce overallcost structure and increase efficiencies. Theserestructuring actions are projected to begin pro-ducing cost savings in the fourth quarter of2003 with the most significant impact in 2004.

Contact: Great Lakes Chemical Corp, PO Box2200, 1 Great Lakes Boulevard, West Lafayette,Indianapolis, IN 47906-5394, USA; tel: +1-765-497-6100; fax: +1-765-497-6316; URL:www.greatlakeschem.com

years. He replaces Dr Fritz Brenzikofer who leftthe company. At Hoechst Sieber was initiallyinvolved in pigments research and developmentof masterbatches. In 1991 he became CEO ofHoechst’s South African joint venture Polyrem,now part of Clariant. He returned to Germany in1996 to become head of the pigments businessfor the printing inks industry of Hoechst AG, aposition he retained through the integration ofthis business into Clariant. With the restructure ofthe Pigments & Additives Division in January,Sieber took the helm of the Printing IndustriesBU. He is replaced there by Dr Ulrich Ott. Inaddition, the leadership of the SpecializedIndustries unit goes to Kay-Uwe Kutschbach fol-lowing the assignment of Dr Uwe Nickel as theoverall head of the Division.

In other news, the division has received an awardfor ‘excellent performance in programme andproject management’ in the Best Innovator 2003competition held jointly by the managementconsulting firm A.T. Kearney and the businessmagazine WirtschaftsWoche in Germany. ThePigments & Additives Division has implementeda number of measures to foster innovation withthe result that sales from new products have risento 20% of worldwide sales, said to be a signifi-cant achievement for this industry sector.

Contact: Clariant Pigments & AdditivesDivision, Clariant House, Am Unisys-Park 1, D-65840 Sulzbach am Taunus, Germany; tel: +49-6196-757-8132; fax: +49-6196-757-8862; e-mail: pa.communications@clariant.com; URL:pa.clariant.com

PolyOne launches nanoclaymaterials, appoints new distributorPolyOne Corp introduced a new family of nanoclay-based polymer concentrates at NPE2003, the first fruits of its strategic alliance withNanocor (Additives for Polymers, February2003, p. 5). Initial applications for theNanoblend™ Concentrates include fire-resistantend uses and applications that demand reducedweight and increased stiffness. PolyOne and itscustomers are currently involved in active test-ing, particularly focused on dozens of possibleuses in the appliance, automotive and electrical

industries. Nanoblend Concentrates are easilydispersible and are currently available for thepolypropylene and polyethylene resin families,with additional formulations in the final phasesof development, the company says. At NPE,PolyOne also introduced its new colour technol-ogy capabilities.

In other company news, PolyOne has appointedTotal Polymer Solutions as the authorized dis-tributor for its engineered materials, PVC, andcolour and additive masterbatch productsthroughout Ireland as part of its commitment toexpanding business globally. And the compa-ny’s Performance Additives group, which pro-vides colour and chemical dispersions for therubber processing industry, has achievedISO/TS 16949:2002 certification, which willincreasingly become a requirement for suppliersto the global automotive industry.

Contact: PolyOne Corp, Suite 36-5000, 200Public Square, Cleveland, OH 44114-2304,USA; tel: +1-216-589-4000; fax: +1-216-589-4077; URL: www.polyone.com

Recent additives appointmentsCrompton Corp has appointed Myles S.Odaniell as the new executive vice president ofits Plastics and Petroleum Additives operations.He replaces William A. Stephenson, who hasleft the company. Odaniell comes to the compa-ny from Cytec Industries, Inc/AmericanCyanamid Co, where he was employed for morethan 20 years, serving most recently as president– Coating and Performance Chemicals, andpresident – Cytec Latin America. In these posi-tions he led a staff of 750 and was responsiblefor a portfolio of global speciality chemicalbusinesses manufacturing both resins and spe-ciality additives.

At titanium dioxide pigment producer NLIndustries, Inc, J. Landis Martin has resignedas president, CEO and a director of NLIndustries in order to devote more time toTitanium Metals Corp, where he serves aschairman, president and CEO. NL’s currentChairman, Harold Simmons, will succeedMartin as CEO. Martin will continue to serveNL as a consultant. The company is also

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