Clariant forecast drop in profits

Clariant have predicted that their second half operating profit will be down on the first half, according to Reuters Zurich. The company said that the economic downturn eliminates the prospect of sales growth. Clariant added that nine month sales were flat in local currencies and fell 4% in Swiss francs to SF7.59 billion (US$4.65 billion). They did not report any profit figures. Analysts added that Clariant are worse off than their competitors because of internal problems, such as the disappointing results from their acquisition of British fine chemicals manufacturer BTP. Clariant have confirmed that their divestments and restructuring programmes are still on track and they plan to further reduce costs and scale back capacity in fine chemicals.