Could you give us an overview of Brenntag Essentials’ network and footprint in APAC?

Brenntag is the global market leader in chemicals and ingredients distribution.

Our two global divisions, Brenntag Essentials and Brenntag Specialties, provide a full-line portfolio of industrial and specialty chemicals and ingredients as well as tailor-made application, marketing and supply chain solutions, technical and formulation support, comprehensive regulatory knowledge, and digital solutions for a wide range of industries.

We have more than 17,500 employees worldwide and operate a network of more than 600 sites in 72 countries.

Brenntag Essentials operates its Asia Pacific regional headquarters out of Singapore and has presence in all major countries in the Asia Pacific region, including close to 40 facilities offering blending solutions, application and development support.

On 22 March 2023, Brenntag Essentials announced the acquisition of Aik Moh Group. The group offers a wide range of industrial chemicals with excellence in last-mile delivery, mixing and blending, and offers value-added services such as repacking, warehousing, and logistics support with a focus on South-East Asia.

With this acquisition, Brenntag Essentials expanded its business into key focus markets in Asia Pacific.

Could you comment on Brenntag’s business performance in FY22 and your outlook for 2023?

On 8 March 2023, Brenntag reported extraordinarily strong results for the financial year 2022, a year that was dominated by a highly challenging macroeconomic environment. Both our global divisions delivered excellent operational and financial results.

These results demonstrate the resilience of Brenntag and our business model as well as our ability to function as a reliable partner under adverse and volatile circumstances.

In 2022, Brenntag generated sales of 19,429.3 million EUR with a robust growth of 27.7% compared to the previous year. Brenntag’s operating gross profit rose 20.3% compared to prior year to 4,319.0 million EUR.

Brenntag has proven to be the undisputed and resilient leader in an attractively growing and highly fragmented, indispensable market.

Our ‘Strategy to Win’, which we introduced in November 2022 defines how to further sharpen the profiles of our global divisions with distinct strategies and clear differentiated steering, making the two divisions more independent from each other while drawing the benefits of having very efficient standardized and harmonized business services. This will lead to accelerated and sustained growth above the market average and increasing margins in both divisions. We are also building a comprehensive digital and data architecture to better serve our global customer base and achieve the next level of operational efficiency, growth, and excellence.

How can chemical distributors differentiate themselves in the commodity market? Why should chemical and petrochemical producers choose to partner with Brenntag?

Brenntag Essentials can tell a great and unique story. We market a broad portfolio of process chemicals across a wide range of industries and applications. We offer our customers and suppliers the benefit of our value-added services, economies of scale, reach and excellent local market knowledge.

We are lean, agile and are easy to do business with, as we know that our customers and suppliers trust us because not only do we give them a peace of mind, but we also help them stay ahead of the curve and achieve success in their respective fields.

As the global market leader in chemical and ingredients distribution, we not only continually improve ourselves in all we do by embracing the spirit of excellence, but also take on the responsibility to shape the chemical industry together with our customers and suppliers.

Sustainability topics such as health, safety and environmental protection, resource efficiency and full compliance with laws and regulations are deeply embedded within our company. They determine how we interact with our employees, suppliers, customers, and society in general, and have a direct influence on our commercial success.

Globally, Brenntag Essentials have defined three key strategic priorities for the years to come: 1) we will strengthen our local and regional distribution networks and optimize our last mile delivery capabilities, 2) enhance our global expertise by re-enforcing global sourcing market intelligence capabilities and expanding global terminal capabilities at strategic ports, and 3) will also put a focus on capturing new market potential through mergers and acquisitions and by increasing our portfolio for sustainable products and supply chain solutions.

Additionally, with our Digital.Data.Excellence growth driver (DiDEX), Brenntag enhances efficiency, growth and excellence across the organization and transforms the company from the core to become the the most connected and agile supply chain partner in the industry to best address today’s challenges of flexibility, sustainability, and efficiency.