Pharmaceuticals Sector - Solvay

which it was able to take advantage
of thanks to the many measures
taken in recent years to strengthen
its competitiveness (strategic
re-centering, cost reduction) and
to its innovative capacities (R&D initiatives
and new product launches).
These meant that, despite high
raw materials prices, 2005 was a
record year for Pipelife.
This performance was made
possible by the presence of a wellmotivated
international team, the
consistency and professionalism
of which were further enhanced in
2005 by the “Pipelife University”, a
virtual entity promoting the pooling
of experience and expertise.
Activity on building construction
markets remained at high levels
in 2005 in most of the regions in
which Pipelife is present:
– In Europe, demand was strong in
all countries and more particularly
in Scandinavia, the Baltic states
and Central Europe, which made
up almost 60% of sales;
– the US subsidiary in Arkansas
contributed to repairing the
damage caused by Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita in the southern
United States in September;
– the Chinese activities also benefi -
ted from sustained demand.
In order to focus resources and
skills on its main markets, the
activities in the Chengdu region
of China were sold to the Chinese
partner.
Numerous product innovations
launched by Pipelife have proved
successful in its four main areas of
application (drainage, agriculture,
electricity and plumbing).
These include large-dimension
pipes (diameter 2m, length 500 m),
used mainly for sea-water desalination
units and for waste-water
outfalls in the ocean.
In 2005, around 16% of Pipelife’s
sales were of products less than
5 years old.
Industrial foils
Solvay agreed in February 2005
to sell its Rigid Foils activity in Italy
to Ineos and in July 2005 to sell the
remaining Industrial Foils activities
to Renolit AG, a German familyowned
company.
These transactions will enable
Industrial Foils to join groups for
which plastic foils is a key business
and for which Solvay’s Industrial
Foils activities constitute a source
of logical diversifi cation and reinforcement.
They will also enable
Solvay to concentrate better on its
priority of sustainable, profi table
growth in selected Pharmaceuticals,
Chemicals and Plastics areas.
BPS
(BP Solvay Polyethylene)
On January 6, 2005 Solvay fi nalized
the sale to BP of its interests
in the BP Solvay Polyethylene joint
ventures, thereby concluding a
series of transactions started by
Solvay and BP in 2000.
Among other things, the sale
allows Solvay to take a world-class
position in the less cyclical,
higher-added-value specialty
polymers fi eld.
The Industrial Foils results for
2004 and 2005, and the capital
gain in 2005 on the disposal of the
shares in BPS are reported under
“Discontinued operations” and are
therefore not included in the results
of the Plastics Sector as described
and commented on here.
Plastics Sector
39
Solvay Global Annual Report 2005
Plastics