Corbion: announces new plant in Thailand

Amsterdam / NL. (cb) Corbion will invest approximately USD 190 million in a new 125,000 metric tons lactic acid plant in Thailand, operating at the highest sustainability standards and lowest costs. Olivier Rigaud, CEO, commented: «We are making good progress in the review of our current strategy. We will give an extensive update during a Capital Markets Day on 09 March, at which time we will also publish our fully audited results. However, several important strategic decisions have already been made.

«We are the global market leader in lactic acid production. To further strengthen this leadership position in an attractive growth market, we have decided to build a new lactic acid plant at the existing Corbion site in Rayong Province in Thailand. As PLA is developing better than expected, the urgency behind expanding our lactic acid production capacity has only increased. The new plant will be based on our innovative and proprietary gypsum-free technology. This new technology will further enhance our position as lowest cost producer of lactic acid at the highest sustainability standards.

«I am a firm believer in the potential of algae technology. The current strategic review has already led to the decision to continue to invest in Algae Ingredients. However, pushing into new territories with revolutionary new ingredients goes hand in hand with timelines to commercial success that are inherently difficult to predict. Going forward we will be more selective in our target markets, and significantly reduce our cost base of Algae Ingredients. As we indicated earlier, Algae Ingredients is developing slower than expected which required us to review the asset value, subsequently followed by an impairment.

«I am pleased with the strong fourth quarter as we saw a further acceleration of organic growth. The preliminary (unaudited) FY 2019 results exceeded our most recent management guidance (October 2019) for Ingredient Solutions, while Innovation Platforms performed as expected. We expect to report FY 2019 Net sales of EUR 976.4 million and Adjusted Ebitda of EUR 145.9 million.»

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