A big boost. Michal Haľko, left, the general director of chemical textile firm Chemlon Humenné, expects to see big results from merger.TASR
Rhone Poulenc Slovakia Holding announced on November 3 that it had obtained a 43% stake in Chemlon Humenne, formerly held by the state-owned Chemes Humenne. Rhone Poulenc had previously owned 57% of Chemlon. Michal Halko, Chemlon vice-president, said that Rhone Poulenc had obtained the shares via a tender for their purchase announced by the state privatisation agency, the National Property Fund (FNM) in August.
The company plans to invest some 500 million Sk ($14 million) in Chemlon in the near future. The investment projects embrace modernization of fibers for tires and new production units for the production of fibers for airbags.
"Chemlon was bought out by its major shareholder," said Viktor Levkanič, an analyst at Bratislava brokerage firm Slavia Capital. "Such an acquisition could have been expected. Rhone Poulenc fulfilled certain criteria to get the stake, and it has contracted to invest in the company."
During the first nine months of 1998, Chemlon made a gross profit of 67 million Sk ($1.86 million) on sales of 3.4 billion Sk ($94 million). The nine-month export volume of the company accounted for 96% of its total sales, of which the Czech Republic represented a 30% share.
Chemlon exports its products also into EU-member countries, Poland, Switzerland, India, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Hungary, Latvia and Lithuania. In 1997, Chemlon posted losses of 210 million Sk, which the company attributed to competition and to the fact that raw material costs had risen more quickly than sales prices.
Chemlon Humenne has now been integrated into the polyamide division of the company Rhodia, which controls Rhone Poulenc through the firm Filtec. Rhodia is engaged in the production and sale of chemically engineered fibers. Chemlon products are used in the production of textiles for tires and other vulcanized products, ropes, nets and technical textiles. In 1997, the company was awarded an International Standards Organisation (ISO) 9002 quality certificate for its technical fiber, and in 1996 received another award for tire cords.
