Lanxess expects demand to rise

Germany’s Lanxess, the world’s largest maker of synthetic rubber, said it expects demand from emerging markets to drive growth this year after strong sales in Latin America pushed its 2011 results above expectations. “Following last year’s record earnings, Lanxess got off to a promising start in 2012,” the company said in a statement. Its shares jumped in early trade and were up 9.5 per cent at 61.60 euros, while Germany’s mid-cap index was 0.3 per cent lower. Lanxess did not provide a specific target for 2012 earnings but said it sees first-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), adjusted for special items, at 330-350 million euros ($435-462 million). “This is extremely strong in our view and would be above what we regard as an already strong previous year figure of 322 million euros,” WestLB analyst Michael Gorny said. Analysts on average see adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2012 easing to 1.09 billion euros from 1.15 billion in 2011. In the fourth quarter of 2011, the figure edged 1.2 per cent higher to 174 million euros, exceeding the 166 million euros expected on average in a Reuters poll of 11 analysts.