Questions to the Business Presidents 2025
How would you describe the performance of your business units in 2025?
Christian Vang, President Care Chemicals and Americas: Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment marked by trade tensions and market uncertainty, Care Chemicals maintained flat sales in local currency with stable pricing. While organic volumes declined by 1 %, we saw strong growth in Crop Solutions, Mining Solutions, and Personal & Home Care, though Industrial Applications, Oil Services, and Base Chemicals declined. Our EBITDA margin before exceptional items improved significantly to 19.3 % from 18.2 %, driven by our performance improvement programs.
Jens Cuntze, President Catalysts and APAC: Catalysts faced headwinds in 2025 with sales declining 2 % in local currency due to weak new-build activities and shifts in refill cycles caused by low plant utilization rates. However, I'm extremely proud that we achieved a remarkable 340 basis point improvement in EBITDA margin before exceptional items to 20.8 % from 17.4 %, driven by effective price and cost management and contributions from performance improvement programs. Most importantly, our catalyst products helped customers avoid approximately 45 million tons of CO2 emissions, reinforcing our critical role in the energy transition.
Angela Cackovich, President Adsorbents & Additives and EMEA: Adsorbents & Additives delivered flat sales in local currency with positive pricing of 1 %, though volumes declined by 1 %. Growth in our Additives segment successfully offset declines in Adsorbents, where temporary delays in renewable fuel regulation implementation impacted US demand. Our EBITDA margin before exceptional items improved to 17.1 % from 15.8 %, reflecting successful pricing strategies and contributions from our performance improvement programs.
What were your key innovations and achievements in 2025?
Angela Cackovich: One highlight was the plant expansion for Exolit™ OP in Daya Bay, China: We increase our production capacities and expand our Exolit™ OP portfolio for e-mobility, electrical and electronic applications. We also celebrated the 50th anniversary of our Exolit™ AP flame retardant range. On top, we launched the groundbreaking melamine-free Exolit™ AP, which is free of substances of very high concern while maintaining superior fire resistance and announced a strategic joint venture with FUHUA to develop next-generation nonhalogenated flame retardants. Additionally, our Adaptable PyOil Upgrading technology generated first commercial sales, and we received the Strive 35 – Sustainability Award from ADM, being selected as one of six suppliers from approximately 40 000 global suppliers.
Christian Vang: The official launch of »Clariant Beauty« marked a major milestone, combining our expertise with Lucas Meyer Cosmetics to deliver sustainable, high-performance cosmetic solutions. At in-cosmetics Global, our Beauty team won six innovation awards, including recognition for Pickmulse™, GlowCytocin™, and Melicica™, and our exhibition was among the most visited from over 1 000 exhibitors. We also rapidly expanded our pharmaceutical excipients portfolio with new VitiPure™ products and opened Health Care application labs at our Clariant Innovation Center in Frankfurt, while receiving prestigious awards from Unilever for innovation and from L'Oréal for our Living Wage advocacy.
Jens Cuntze: We intensified our partnership with Midrex to decarbonize the steel industry using our REFORMEX™ catalysts in direct reduced iron technology, which avoids around one ton of CO2 per ton of crude steel produced. Our MegaMax™ 900 catalyst was successfully started up at European Energy's pioneering e-methanol plant in Denmark, and we're powering multiple green methanol projects globally, including INERATEC's ERA ONE facility and Repsol's Ecoplanta project. We also launched Styromax™ UL-100, our most advanced ethylbenzene dehydrogenation catalyst developed with Technip Energies, and won two awards at the Gulf Energy Information Excellence Awards for our chromium-free HySat™ catalyst platform and our EDHOX™ technology with Linde.
Looking ahead, what opportunities do you see in your markets?
Jens Cuntze: The energy transition continues to present tremendous opportunities for our innovative catalyst technologies, particularly in green methanol, e-fuels, and sustainable aviation fuel production. Our collaboration with partners like Repsol on the Ecoplanta project, which will convert municipal waste into renewable methanol, and Shanghai Boiler Works demonstrates the growing demand for solutions that enable hard-to-abate sectors to decarbonize. With our combination of leading catalysts and our digital CLARITY™ Prime technology, we're uniquely positioned to help customers enhance process efficiency, reduce energy consumption, and achieve their sustainability targets.
Angela Cackovich: A great opportunity lies in entering new applications and markets with our nonhalogenated flame retardants, driven by ongoing regulatory pressure as industries face tightening requirements around substances of very high concern. We also expect a strong rebound in Adsorbents in the Americas with renewable fuel, following the temporary delays in regulation implementation. Additionally, the circular economy presents exciting possibilities, particularly with our PyOil Upgrading technology for chemical recycling of plastics.
Christian Vang: Care Chemicals is well-positioned in fast-growing markets with strong megatrends driving demand, including health- and sustainability-conscious consumers and brands. Our expanded pharmaceutical excipients offering opens significant opportunities in this high-value segment, strengthened by our CHF 80 million investment in Daya Bay, China, which inaugurated new production facilities in November 2025, including a second spray tower and an additional reactor for the existing multi-purpose plant, positioning us as a key supplier of pharmaceutical ingredients and specialty chemicals across Asia. Our Crop Solutions innovations like Synergen™ Soil and Synergen™ Guard address critical agricultural challenges from climate change and food security. The successful integration of Lucas Meyer Cosmetics and the launch of Clariant Beauty have strengthened our competitive position, and our customer-centric approach continues to earn recognition from industry leaders like Unilever, L'Oréal, Petrobras, and Anglo American.
