Performance Materials
| Performance Materials key data | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd quarter 2023 | 3rd quarter 2024 | Change | 1st nine months 2023 |
1st nine months 2024 |
Change | |
| Sales (external) | €1,707 million | €1,777 million | 4.1% | €5,288 million | €5,300 million | 0.2% |
| Intersegment sales | €542 million | €591 million | 9.0% | €1,706 million | €1,718 million | 0.7% |
| Sales (total) | €2,249 million | €2,368 million | 5.3% | €6,994 million | €7,018 million | 0.3% |
| Change in sales (external) | ||||||
| Volume | –2.4% | 8.6% | –10.4% | 13.6% | ||
| Price | –19.9% | –3.6% | –14.1% | –12.4% | ||
| Currency | –4.4% | –0.9% | –1.8% | –1.0% | ||
| Sales by region (external) | ||||||
| EMLA | €695 million | €779 million | 12.1% | €2,347 million | €2,363 million | 0.7% |
| NA | €465 million | €452 million | –2.8% | €1,430 million | €1,320 million | –7.7% |
| APAC | €547 million | €546 million | –0.2% | €1,511 million | €1,617 million | 7.0% |
| EBITDA1 | €85 million | €125 million | 47.1% | €560 million | €424 million | –24.3% |
| EBIT1 | (€52 million) | (€11 million) | –78.8% | €135 million | €13 million | –90.4% |
| Cash flows from operating activities | €438 million | €199 million | –54.6% | €483 million | €219 million | –54.7% |
| Cash outflows for additions to property, plant, equipment and intangible assets | €121 million | €88 million | –27.3% | €300 million | €270 million | –10.0% |
| Free operating cash flow | €317 million | €111 million | –65.0% | €183 million | (€51 million) | . |
1 EBIT and EBITDA include the effect on earnings of intersegment sales.
In the Performance Materials segment, third-quarter sales in 2024 were up 4.1% to €1,777 million (previous year: €1,707 million). The main driver of this trend was an increase in volumes sold, especially in the EMLA region, which had a beneficial effect on sales of 8.6%. Offsetting changes were a 3.6% decline in average selling prices due to oversupply in the market, which coincided with lower raw material prices being passed on to customers as well as exchange rate movements with a sales-reducing effect of 0.9%.
Sales in the EMLA region were up by 12.1% from the corresponding prior-year quarter to €779 million (previous year: €695 million), driven primarily by a substantial increase in sales volumes. The lower selling price level, on the other hand, had a slight reducing impact on sales. Exchange rate movements had a neutral aggregate impact on sales in aggregate. The NA region’s sales decreased by 2.8% to €452 million (previous year: €465 million), principally because of exchange rate movements and lower sales volumes, both of which had the effect of slightly reducing sales. The selling price level had no notable effect on sales. Sales in the APAC region were down by 0.2% to €546 million (previous year: €547 million), with the effects on sales of a marginal decrease in the selling price level and a slight rise in volumes sold almost completely offsetting each other. Exchange rate movements had no notable impact on sales.
In the third quarter of 2024, EBITDA in the Performance Materials segment was up 47.1% on the corresponding prior-year quarter, rising to €125 million (previous year: €85 million), driven mainly by higher sales volumes. At the same time, additional government subsidies to compensate for electricity prices in Germany and lower provisions for variable compensation had a positive effect on earnings. In contrast, lower margins had an reducing effect on earnings, since the decline in the average selling price level could not be compensated for by lower raw material and energy prices. Exchange rate movements had no notable impact on EBITDA.
In the third quarter of 2024, EBIT improved to €–11 million (previous year: €–52 million).
Free operating cash flow retreated to €111 million in the third quarter of 2024 (previous year: €317 million), mainly because of significantly lower funds freed up from working capital compared with the prior-year quarter. On the other hand, a rise in EBITDA and lower cash outflows for property, plant and equipment and intangible assets had a positive effect on free operating cash flow.