Strong industrial demand and acquisitions helped boost first-quarter results at Dutch speciality chemicals distributor IMCD (Rotterdam; www.imcdgroup.com). Versus the year-earlier period, revenue rose 8% to EUR 809.9m led by the Asia-Pacific and EMEA segments. Operating EBITA soared 28% to EUR 90.6m. Without going into detail, CEO Piet van der Slikke said with the promising start, he was optimistic that IMCD would be able to “further grow its business this year.”

The EMEA segment sales increased at an annual rate of 6% to EUR 390.6m, the company said, while operating EBITA gained 15% at EUR 44.2m. During the reporting period, IMCD said it strengthened its pharma, food and personal care activities in EMEA by acquiring three distributors: Ejder Kimya (Istanbul / Turkey; www.ejderkimya.com), Siyeza Fine Chem Propriety (Johannesburg / South Africa) and the pharma activities of Netherlands-based Peak International Products.

The Americas segment saw a 4% decline in revenues at EUR 251.4m, with operating EBITA flat at EUR 25.4m. The company’s Asia-Pacific segment was the star performer, with sales rising 39% and operating EBITA up 127%.