The Materials division of chemicals group DSM (Heerlen / The Netherlands; www.dsm.com), which is oriented to the field of plastics, increased its adjusted EBITDA by 12% at EUR 488m while sales rose also 12% to EUR 2.825 bn on double-digit gains of all businesses. Pricing and cost savings programmes offset higher input costs and negative currency effects, resulting into a stable adjusted EBITDA margin of 17.3%.

DSM Engineering Plastics continued to successfully shift its portfolio toward higher-value materials aimed at electrics and electronics as well as automotive applications. DSM Resins & Functional Materials benefited from healthy demand for non-solvent based coating solutions. DSM Dyneema, whose ultra-high molecular weight PE fibres make it the world’s strongest, delivered strong growth in personal protection and commercial marine markets.

On the group level, DSM posted 9% sales growth at EUR 8.63 bn, adjusted EBITDA increased 15% to EUR 1.44 bn and adjusted net profit added 36% at EUR 706m.