Leverkusen, Germany, April 27--Lanxess, the German chemicals company which went public recently, has revealed that it intends to cut up to 1,200 jobs.
Chairman Axel Heitmann announced yesterday that Lanxess, which is a spin-off of German chemicals and pharmaceuticals group Bayer, was facing serious challenges and was unable to benefit to the full from the current upturn in the chemicals sector.
Mr Heitmann admitted that Lanxess would have difficulty increasing operating profits this year, but confirmed his earlier forecast of an ebitda margin of 9 per cent to 10 per cent for 2006. Lanxess managed to increase ebitda by more than 40 per cent to 447m euros last year, but still registered net losses. Heitmann revealed yesterday that he would soon start negotiations with employee representatives regarding the planned job cuts.
Shares in Lanxess plummeted during early trading yesterday, but eventually closed virtually unchanged at 16.45 euros.
