erties of our adhesive offering also serve to reduce the cycle cost
of manufacturing for many of our customers which drives in-
creased demand even during general downturns.”
“Our products are particularly popular for large scale bond-
ing of certain plastics and composites to themselves or metal and
for exposure of the final component to impact or vibration fa-
tigue,” added Darnell. “These properties allow SCIGRIP to ben-
efit from sectors like transport, marine, sport and leisure. We also
have adhesive products that are ideal for consumer electronics
assembly, which continues to be a fast growing industry.”
Henkel reported that it continued its good performance in the
second quarter, despite a difficult market environment. “We ex-
pect that the very volatile environment with uncertainties in our
markets will persist,” said Holger Elfes, corporate business unit
and brand PR, adhesives and technologies at Henkel. “In partic-
ular, the effects of the debt and financial crisis in a number of
countries will analyze, adapt and further improve our process
structures. For Henkel’s adhesives business the emerging markets
in the second quarter provided important momentum for the
solid sales increase achieved, with revenues in the regions of East-
ern Europe and Africa/Middle East developing particularly well.
In Western Europe, sales were slightly below the level of the
prior-year quarter, due primarily to negative market conditions
in the countries of Southern Europe. By contrast, the strong
growth posted once again by our businesses in North America
made a significant contribution to the rise in revenues.”
Henkel reported that adhesives for consumers, craftsmen and
building business exhibited solid sales performance in the sec-
ond quarter, with contributions coming from both strong sales
and with products for craftsmen and building industry, and from
products for do-it-yourselfers. “The regions of Eastern Europe
and Africa/Middle East again contributed significantly to the
growth achieved,” said Elfes. “Our business in North America
also performed very strongly.”
Raw material issues continue to impact the adhesives and
sealants market, although some companies have reported a sta-
bilization in prices.
“Due to raw material price rises, cost of sales at all Henkel
business units increased compared to the prior-year period by
3. 5 percent to € 4,322 million in the first half,” said Elfes. “Raw
material prices stabilized toward the end of the first half of 2012.
We succeeded in further growing gross margin by increasing our
selling prices and maintaining our strict cost discipline. We ex-
pect the increase in prices for direct materials to decelerate com-
pared to 2011. We will remain firmly focused on maintaining
our strict cost discipline. We also expect an increase in the prices
for raw materials, packaging, contract manufacturing and traded
goods in the low single-digit percentage range in 2012.”
“While we have passed along a few price increases when appro-
priate, we have tried to take a balanced approach to this challenge,”
said Houk. “From the R&D perspective, we continue to look at
ways to reduce our dependency on petroleum-based feedstocks as
well as consider renewable raw material alternatives. Also, we are
taking very real steps to reduce our internal energy consumption
and subsequently reducing our corporate carbon footprint.”
SCIGRIP reports that it
is continually improving pro-
duction yields and process
efficiencies to reduce the
amount of raw materials
used to make its products
and the energy required to
process them. “On a global
basis, SCIGRIP is now man-
ufacturing in Europe and the
U.S. to avoid having to ship
goods halfway around the
world,” said Darnell. “This
serves to reduce transport
costs and shorten supply
chains for our customers.”
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