Swiss chemicals firm has no plans for US expansion

Clariant does not intend to increase its presence in the US Keystone-SDA

Basel-based chemicals giant Clariant does not intend to increase its investments in the United States, unlike pharmaceutical firms Roche and Novartis.

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“We will certainly not spend any more money in that area in the short term,” CEO Conrad Keijzer indicated today, speaking to journalists at the presentation of the company’s quarterly figures.

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This is becasue Clariant already produces about 70% of the products it sells in the United States locally, and sources 90% of the raw materials there.

Between January and March 2025, Clariant realised a turnover of CHF1 billion, which is in line with the same period of the previous year. Ebitda (i.e. earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) contracted by 12% to CHF152m: restructuring costs of CHF38m were a factor. The net profit figure was not disclosed.

The profitability shown by the group turned out to be better than analysts had expected, and there was no shortage of positive effect on the stock market.

Since the beginning of January, however, the share price is still down by 3%, and performance over one and five years is also negative – by 28% and 46% respectively.

Clariant is headquartered in the heart of the region that is home to the hub of the Swiss chemical industry. The group was formed in 1995 from a spin-off of Sandoz’s speciality chemicals division, a year before Ciba and Sandoz merged to form Novartis.

At the beginning of the 2000s, it had around 31,000 employees, followed by crises, restructuring programmes and divestments. At the end of December 2024, the company employed almost 10,500 people.

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Translated from Italian by DeepL/mga

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