Lanxess to keep dividend steady at 0.50 eur/share

FRANKFURT: Germany's Lanxess on Tuesday said it planned to pay a flat 0.50 euro-per-share dividend for 2014 despite persistent weak prices of its main synthetic rubber products, thanks to a reduction in its debt.

The company reduced its net financial liabilities to around 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in 2014, faster than it had expected, it said, down from 1.73 billion at the end of 2013.

Lanxess said last month that adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) likely came to around 808 million euros in 2014, up from 735 million euros from a year earlier, citing preliminary figures.