German chemical company Lanxess AG saw earnings move ahead significantly in the second quarter and has narrowed its earnings guidance for the full year 2006.

Sales were down as expected, declining by 5.8% year-on-year from €1,859 million to €1,751 million, mainly due to the divestments of the Fibres and Paper business units and the RheinChemie subsidiary iSL-Chemie. However, net income more than tripled to €77 million, compared with €24 million for the second quarter of 2005.

In the EMEA region—Europe (except Germany), Middle East and Africa—sales fell by 11.5% to €584 million compared with €660 million in 2005, while sales in Germany grew by 2.8% to €411 million from €400 million. In the Americas region, sales declined by 9.7% to €455 million from €504 million the previous year. Sales in the Asia-Pacific region grew by 2% to €301 million from €295 million.

Sales in the Performance Chemicals segment fell by 10.8% from the prior-year period to €456 million compared with €511 million, due primarily to positive developments in the leather, RheinChemie and material protection products business units.

In the Textile Processing Chemicals business unit, restructuring reduced fixed costs, boosting earnings on level sales.