In this edition of European Chemicals Update from Kroll Corporate Finance, we evaluate current trends for key raw materials, prevailing investor sentiment and valuation developments in the featured pharma chemicals sub-sector.
Top Insights
- Key raw materials prices in the chemicals sector continued to increase in Q3 2021 driven mainly by growing seasonality-induced demand and OPEC+ countries continuing to keep supply tight.
- Next, the ifo Business Climate Index for the German chemical industry remained positive in Q3 2021, with both current conditions and expectations on performance remaining positive. This indicates that German companies have strong confidence in current business activities and remain optimistic about the near future.
- Finally, in the pharma chemical sub-sector, featured companies showed an increase in market capitalization at various degrees. Top performers, including Merck KGaA and Lonza Group Ltd, generated over 50% and 26% share price gains in the last 12 months respectively while share price of Novozymes A/S increased approximately by 11%.
