Clariant to Report Third-Quarter Results on November 3 After Posting 18.2% Margin in Second Quarter
Key Facts
Clariant had not reported results for the third quarter and first nine months of 2026 as of October 29, and the company has scheduled their release for November 3, according to its investor calendar. This corrects an earlier account that attributed strong third-quarter profit growth and improved financing terms to the company, as the results had not yet been released. The company will publish the figures at 7:00 a.m. Central European Time, followed by a conference call and webcast for analysts and investors at 1:00 p.m. the same day. The upcoming announcement follows second-quarter and first-half results, which showed growth in some units and declines in others. Clariant also left its 2026 guidance unchanged, making sales and margin indicators in the upcoming report a focus for investors.
In the second quarter, comparable sales rose 0.6% in local currencies to 941.3 million Swiss francs, but fell 0.3% on a reported basis after accounting for the portfolio reduction, according to the company’s results. The Care Chemicals and Adsorbents & Additives units led growth, with sales up 4.2% and 5.3%, respectively, excluding the impact of the portfolio reduction. This was offset by a 13.3% decline in Catalysts sales, which Clariant attributed to the conflict in the Middle East. The company said growth in the two units more than offset the decline in catalyst sales. The divergence highlights how quarterly results depend on differing conditions across the company’s businesses, although the figures do not mean the third quarter followed the same path.
The group’s EBITDA margin before exceptional items improved to 18.2% in the second quarter from 17.4% in the same period of 2025, an increase of 80 basis points, the company said. But first-half results presented a weaker margin picture, with the figure at 17.8% versus 18.1% in the first half of the previous year. First-half sales were 1,859.3 million Swiss francs, down a reported 1.2%, while the company said they were stable in local currencies excluding the portfolio reduction. In historical context, Clariant reported a 5% increase in EBITDA before exceptional items to 697 million francs for fiscal 2025, with the margin improving 180 basis points to 17.8%. These comparisons provide context for reading the new figures, but do not establish in advance that the second-quarter margin improvement continued.
On cash, operating cash flow in the first half rose to 168.7 million Swiss francs from 115.9 million a year earlier. Clariant attributed the increase to effective net working capital management and disciplined capital spending. On debt, the company reported that net debt fell to 1.413 billion francs at the end of 2025, and that the ratio of net debt to EBITDA before exceptional items improved to 2.03 times from 2.25 times at the end of 2024. Clariant had said proceeds from a euro bond issue would be used for general purposes, including the possible refinancing of existing debt. The company has not attributed improved third-quarter results to refinancing in these statements, and these figures relate to periods before the upcoming report.
Clariant kept its 2026 outlook unchanged, with sales expected to be roughly stable in local currencies and EBITDA margin before exceptional items at around 18%. The company said its performance improvement programs had increased by more than 20 million francs, raising the targeted annual savings rate to 100 million francs by 2027, with 90% of the total expected to be achieved by the end of 2026. In first-quarter results, Care Chemicals’ EBITDA margin before exceptional items was about 17.5%, compared with 18.8% in the same period of 2025. These figures show the context for the company’s guidance and operational initiatives, without determining on their own what the nine-month results will show. The announcement is scheduled for November 3, followed by a briefing for analysts and investors the same day.