18 February 2015, 00:00
Specialty chemicals company LANXESS intends to pay a dividend constant with that of the prior year. The Board of Management of the Cologne-based enterprise plans to propose to the Annual Stockholders' Meeting on May 13, 2015, that a dividend of EUR 0.50 per share be paid for fiscal 2014. This would result in a total dividend payout of around EUR 46 million. The proposal remains subject to the approval of the Supervisory Board.
"Despite the challenges it faces, LANXESS is still following a consistent dividend policy. Even as we work on our realignment, we intend to give our shareholders an appropriate share in our company's success," said Matthias Zachert, Chairman of the Board of Management of LANXESS AG.
Key factors underlying this decision were that LANXESS was able to reduce its net financial liabilities faster than expected in 2014, to around EUR 1.3 billion, and that it has a very sound liquidity position. "We are making good progress with our realignment. Year on year, we have increased earnings and also substantially reduced our debt by around EUR 400 million," continued Zachert.
LANXESS will publish its final results for fiscal 2014 on March 19, 2015. All figures provided in this release are preliminary and unaudited.
LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 8.3 billion in 2013 and about 16,700 employees in 29 countries. The company is currently represented at 52 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals. LANXESS is a member of the leading sustainability indices Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI World and DJSI Europe) and FTSE4Good.