Interview with Steven Serin, Celanese
How has 2009 been for your company from a financial standpoint?

S. Sterin: We are very pleased with the strong performance across all our segments coming out of the third quarter 2009, and we expect the considerable progress we have made in executing our strategy to deliver significant earnings improvement into 2010 and beyond. We are now seeing a stabilization of demand across our major geographies and end-use applications with modest recovery in select areas. Celanese's growth in Asia has also been solid and we continue to believe that demand in China, where Celanese is well positioned, will lead the global economic recovery.

What measures have been implemented to counter the economic downturn?

S. Sterin: Celanese continues to execute our strategy with continuous - not periodic - productivity improvements. Sustainable spending reductions and productivity measures have been implemented across the business.
Innovation and technology advancements have also implemented across the Celanese manufacturing operation, and we have divested of non-core or underperforming assets.

Are there any divisions in your company that have performed surprisingly well despite the presence of negative outside influences?

S. Sterin: Consistent growth has been seen during the first half of the year in our Consumer Specialties business, where earnings were relatively insulated from the economic downturn. In fact, earnings from this business segment have been up for the year. Continued strength in the Asian region has also positively contributed to the company's results.
Across our business units, we are excited about our earnings growth through an economic recovery, and more specifically we are confident in substantial growth in 2010 and beyond. With our proven ability to generate cash with an attractive capital structure, Celanese has ample strategic funding and flexibility to also increase earnings power through value-enhancing investments and/or acquisitions.

What lessons can you take from the current recession to help improve your business in the future?

S.

Sterin: It is essential to have the ability to generate cash and have an attractive capital structure to not only maintain and grow business operations, but also be able to invest in business opportunities when other competitors cannot justify such an investment. Innovation, combined with productivity in 2009-2010, will result in operating leverage to earnings growth in the economic recovery.

What is your strategy for 2010? What do you expect for the year to come?

S. Sterin: At Celanese's May 2009 Investor Day held in New York City, the company outlined its plan to expand the earnings power of Celanese to between $1.6 billion and $1.8 billion of operating Ebitda, with this increase coming from two key areas: First, volume and revenue growth, as the economy returns to historic levels. Second, concrete actions unique to Celanese to drive innovation and productivity.
Innovation and productivity are providing a substantial impact today and will deliver even more earnings growth in 2010 and beyond for Celanese. Leverage to these items will provide substantial earnings growth for Celanese over the next few years as the global economy recovers. Four items that give us this confidence include:
Volume and revenue growth as the economy returns to historic levels.
Substantial benefits from our fixed spending reduction actions.
Benefit from a lower adjusted tax rate.
Continuing benefits of our leading, innovative technology which has given us the ability to substantially reduce our cost base while holding our leading position in the acetyl industry.

Interview with Patrick Jany, Clariant
How has 2009 been for your company from a financial standpoint?

P. Jany: As we have said, the years 2009 and 2010 are restructuring years for Clariant. It is our stated goal to close the performance gap to our peers and to achieve a sustainable above industry return on invested capital (ROIC) by the end of 2010. Our focus in 2009 was on generating cash, reducing cost and reducing our complexity.As we believe that the global economy will only recover slowly, the company continues to focus on cash generation by decreasing its net working capital. At the same time, the cost-savings and restructuring measures will continue to favorably impact the operational result, and increasingly contribute to the cash generation.
As far as the operating income is concerned we have progressed quarter by quarter and generated CHF 107 million in the third quarter, compared to a loss of CHF 13 million in the first quarter and an income of CHF 69 million in the second quarter.
We also strengthened our balance sheet by generating cash and, launching during the second quarter a CHF 300 million convertible bond, which matures in 2014. As a result, net debt has been reduced to CHF 756 million, pushing gearing down to 38%, compared to 61% at the end of 2008.