BUSINESS
Sales, Profits Increase for Most Top 100 Chemical Producers Of 100 largest companies, 58 posted higher sales and 53 increased profits in 1986; restructuring accounted for many of the shifts in ranking William J. Storck, C&EN New York
C&EN's ranking of the 100 largest chemical producers in the U.S., based on 1986 chemical sales, reflects the improving performance of the chemical industry last year, compared with 1985. The industry's sales increased slightly as many of its major markets firmed, and chemical prices started to move up, although just slightly, from a longstanding plateau. Among the Top 100 chemical producers, in fact, the only consistently poor results in 1986 were for those companies with large stakes in agricultural chemicals, which were pulled down by the beleaguered farm economy. Of the Top 100 chemical producers, the ranking for which is compiled from corporate annual reports and interviews with companies not issuing annual reports, 58 posted increases in chemical sales for 1986, and 41 registered declines. One company, Huntsman Chemical, was newly formed in 1986, thus no comparison is possible with the year before. The 41 instances of sales declines may seem like a large percentage, but it is a marked improvement over 1985's ranking, when 54 of the Top 100 posted decreases in chemical sales. The number of companies with larger chemical sales in 1986 was fairly evenly divided between the 50 larger firms on the list and the 50 smaller companies. Of the 50 larger ones, 30 had sales increases, and
of the smaller producers, 28 had increases. Operating profits for the Top 100 also improved last year, compared with 1985. Of the 82 companies that reported operating profits, 53 posted increases^ and 23 posted declines. Four of the firms registered deficits for the year, thus change in operating profits is not figured for them. In the 1985 ranking, 50 of the companies that reported operating profits posted declines from the year before.
Of the 43 of the 50 larger firms that reported operating profits for 1986, 35 had increases. Of the 39 of the 50 smaller firms that reported operating profits, just 18 had increases. Within this group, however, are a number of fertilizer producers whose earnings are not buffered by other, more profitable products. Within the 100 firms, very few remained at the same ranking as the previous year. Even among the 10 largest companies, there were changes as firms bought, sold, and
Large firms dominate both sales and earnings,
Second 50 Second 50 1986 sales = $128 billion
1986 operating profits = $13.9 billion
and chemical firms lead other types of producers Foreign owned
1986 sales = $128 billion
Foreign owned 2%
1986 operating profits = $13.9 billion May 4, 1987 C&EN
9
Business
Restructurings continue to change Top 100 sales rankings ChemicalI Chemical Change sates as % > salee 1986 from of total ($ millions) sales 1985
Rank 1986 1985
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 5 6
6 7 8 9 10
4 12 7 9 8
Monsanto BASF Shell Oil Amoco Celanese
4,701 d - 9 . 6 3,600d 38.5 3,292 - 0 . 8 2,928 0.8 2,891 - 5 . 1
68.3 100.0 19.6 14.5 100.0
11 12 13 14 15
17 10 13 11 15
Allied-Signal W.R.Grace Eastman Kodak Chevron Mobil
2,819 37.2 2,492 - 1 3 . 1 2,379 1.3 2,378 - 8 . 9 2,351 3.8
23.9 66.9 20.6 9.1 3.9
16 17 18 19 20
14 22 18 19 21
General Electric Occidental Petroleum Rohm & Haas American Cyanamid Air Products1
2,331 - 0 . 7 2,088e 28.8 2,067 5.1 1,821 - 0 . 5 1,798 7.4
21 22 23 24 25
23 20 15 25 24
Mobay Hercules Phillips Petroleum Borden Ciba-Geigy
26 27 28 29 30
26 27 29 28 31
31 32 33 34 35
Du Pont Dow Chemical Exxon Union Carbide Atlantic Richfield
$11,839 8,863 6,079 5,001 4,915
5.2 °/c> -6.8 -8.9 26.3 29.2
Industry classification
Chemical
Chemical operating Change from profits* 1985 ($ millions)
43.6% Diversified 79.8 Basic chemicals 8.1 Petroleum 78.8 Basic chemicals 32.8 Petroleum
$1764 978 817 748 398
102.8% 138.0 112.2 81.1 445.2
Identifiable assets Operating profits as % of total Operating chemical as % of return on chemical assets operating profit total profits margin6 ($ millions) assets assets6
52.1% 76.1 9.9 94.6 64.7
14.9% 11.0 13.4 15.0 8.1
$8739 8139 5508 5047 2085
36.2% 66.5 7.9 74.3 9.7
20.2% 12.0 14.8 14.8 19.1
Basic chemicals Basic chemicals Petroleum Petroleum Basic chemicals
896 na 648 467 258
87.8 na 292.7 -1.3 103.1
141.1 na 35.1 23.0 100.0
19.1 na 19.7 15.9 8.9
3860 na 3447 2545 na
46.7 na 13.1 11.0 na
23.2 na 18.8 18.3 na
Diversified Specialty chemicals Photo equipment Petroleum Petroleum
346 285 227 147 57
77.4 21.8 24.0 def -29.6
32.9 1187.5 31.4 20.6 1.1
12.3 11.4 9.5 6.2 2.4
2161 1633 2266 3207 2021
19.2 53.1 17.6 9.3 5.4
16.0 17.5 10.0 4.6 2.8
6.3 13.0 100.0 47.7 90.7
Diversified Petroleum Basic chemicals Basic chemicals Basic chemicals
424 176 280 135 363
-9.0 75.1 3.7 66.8 16.2
9.8 36.2 100.0 38.3 129.4
18.2 8.4 13.5 7.4 20.2
10.4 3602 13.7 2393 1470 100.0 1275 49.6 2173 80.3
11.8 7.3 19.0 10.6 16.7
1,710 6.9 1,709 - 2 . 0 1,698 - 2 5 . 1 1,638 7.0 1,490 - 3 . 2
100.0 65.4 17.0 32.7 61.3
Basic chemicals Basic chemicals Petroleum Dairy products Specialty chemicals
193 101 299 176 na
-6.4 114.9 36.5 36.4 na
100.0 49.5 30.3 35.3 na
11.3 5.9 17.6 10.7 na
1246 100.0 1464 71.6 8.5 1053 1399 40.3 na na
16 6.9 28.4 12.6 na
Ashland Oil B. F.Goodrich FMC American Hoechst Texaco
1,477 - 1 . 5 5.4 1,458 1,399 11.0 1,331d - 2 . 2 1,279 4.8
20.3 57.1 46.6 77.8 4.0
Petroleum Rubber products Machinery Basic chemicals Petroleum
71 134 224 na 91
4.4 68.5 56.8 na 658.3
15.0 79.9 71.6 na 3.9
4.8 9.2 16.0 na 7.1
527 1199 1344 na 1114
13.9 82.5 50.0 na 3.2
13.5 11.1 16.7 na 8.2
30 34 37 40 36
Ethyl Olin National Distillers Dow Corning International Minerals"
1,272 1,114 1,087 1,085 1,077
2.5 -2.9 4.7 20.4 1.9
57.0 65.3 62.8 100.0 87.1
Basic chemicals Basic chemicals Alcoholic beverages Specialty chemicals Agrochemicals
24.8 247 72.7 80 72.6 124 16.2 1119 35 -74.2
69.0 50.3 67.0 100.0 57.1
19.4 7.2 11.4 10.2 3.2
829 840 1385 na 2042
48.4 59.6 47.7 na 84.1
29.8 9.5 8.9 na 1.7
36 37 38 39 40
41 32 38 44 42
National Starch Unocal Borg-Warner Lubrizol PPG Industries
1,064 20.7 1,056 -13.2 1,043 12.3 889 10.6 0.2 843e
100.0 12.6 30.9 91.0 18.0
Specialty chemicals Petroleum Auto equipment Specialty chemicals Glass products
22.4 140 469 -20.7 25.3 153 49.5 140 28.3 103
100.0 26.1 43.8 108.6 14.8
13.2 4.4 14.7 15.7 12.2
743 100.0 7.1 722 562 23.6 589 67.1 1185 25.5
18.9 6.4 27.3 23.7 8.7
41 42 43 44 44
85 51 49 39 43
Aluminum Co. of America Pennwalt Cabot1 CF Industries Reichhold Chemicals
840d 209.6 777 14.2 769 7.9 766 - 1 6 . 8 766 - 6 . 9
18.0 70.1 58.7 100.0 100.0
Nonferrous metals Basic chemicals Specialty metals Agrochemicals Basic chemicals
na 93 138 -45 53
na 57.3 55.9 def 150.7
na 78.8 69.3 def 100.0
na 12.0 17.9 def 7.0
na na 649 73.8 494 32.7 842 100.0 458 100.0
na 14.3 27.9 def 11.6
46 47 48 49 50
— 50 58 48 54
Aristech Nalco Chemical NL Industries Eli Lilly Engelhard
751 736 734 699 666
100.0 100.0 57.2 18.8 29.1
Steel Specialty chemicals Petroleum services Drugs Specialty metals
98 108 na 53 77
131.5 -11.0 na -39.8 24.2
100.0 100.0 na 5.8 80.5
13.0 14.7 na 7.6 11.6
na na 586 100.0 na na 16.7 766 607 58.2
na 18.4 na 6.9 12.7
May 4, 1987 C&EN
-4.9 7.9 30.1 -2.0 11.3
Chemical operating Chemical sales 1986 ($ millions)
Rank 1986 1985
51 52 53 54 55
53 56 64 45 52
Morton Thiokolh Terra Chemicals International Flavors Williams Cos. Koppers
56 57 58 58 60
47 — 61 62 56
Farmland Industries Huntsman Chemical Vista Chemicals1 Solvay America Witco
61 62 63 64 65
63 67 66 59 65
66 67 68 69 70
$652 626 621 613 589
Chemical Change sales as from of tota 1985 sales
%
5.8% 9.0 23.9 -17.4 -4.8
Industry classification
Chemical operating profits* $ millions
Change from 1985
Chemical
profits as Identifiable> assets Operating % of total Operating chemical as % of return on assets operating profit chemical total margin 6 ($ millions) assets assets 0 profits
33.4% 100.0 100.0 33.0 42.2
Diversified Agrochemicals Specialty chemicals Agrochemicals Diversified
$ 87 na 144 na 40
574 -20.4 570 na 550 5.5 550 6.8 544* - 5 . 2
21.1 100.0 100.0 100.0 40.1
Agricultural supplies Basic chemicals Basic chemicals Basic chemicals Specialty chemicals
-38 na 91 na 45
def na na na -21.3
def na 100.0 na 34.0
def na 16.5 na 8.2
342 na na na 275
45.8 na na na 33.6
def na na na 16.2
Polysar H. B. Fuller' Liquid Air Standard Oil Kerr-McGee
536 528 491 475 456
4.4 15.5 6.9 -13.9 -5.7
100.0 100.0 86.0 4.7 18.0
Basic chemicals Specialty chemicals Basic chemicals Petroleum Petroleum
na 39 59 11 14
na 28.5 2.2 -59.3 -69.6
na 100.0 97.5 1.5 54.4
na 7.5 12.0 2.3 3.1
na na 291 100.0 595 83.0 347 2.2 na na
na 13.6 9.9 3.2 na
— 71 — 74 75
CBI Industries American Petrofina Henley Group Pfizer Tyler
451 441 435 416 388
2.6 9.0 14.5 6.0 3.4
39.0 22.5 13.7 9.3 40.4
Construction Petroleum Basic chemicals Drugs Diversified chemicals
60 53 60 41 27
-4.5 358.4 def 137.4 -8.9
95.9 def def 4.0 51.1
13.3 12.0 13.8 9.8 7.0
552 250 359 439 187
47.3 14.5 7.6 8.5 37.2
10.9 21.3 16.7 9.2 14.5
71 72 73 74 75
73 76 68 69 79
Rhône-Poulenc GAF Freeport-McMoRan Merck Betz Laboratories
380 378 374 359 344
-5.0 3.6 -17.1 -20.3 7.8
100.0 50.1 59.4 8.7 100.0
Specialty chemicals Specialty chemicals Agrochemicals Drugs Specialty chemicals
na 108 76 50 63
na 16.4 -28.2 -14.4 4.6
na 77.5 def 4.8 100.0
na 28.6 20.2 13.9 18.4
na na 18.7 252 244 10.3 11.7 431 270 100.0
na 42.8 31.0 11.6 23.5
76 77 78 79 80
72 77 84 83 86
Sun Co. Chemed Union Camp Great Lakes Chemical Ferro
317 - 2 1 . 1 314 -6.6 305 10.9 300 8.5 286d 6.8
3.0 87.4 14.9 100.0 39.4
Petroleum Specialty chemicals Diversified Specialty chemicals Specialty materials
na 33 6 43 22
na -23.8 -30.3 -5.9 62.0
ha 82.7 2.6 100.0 37.4
na 10.5 2.0 14.2 7.8
na 162 227 na 162
na 82.6 8.3 na 41.4
na 20.3 2.7 na 13.7
81 82 83 84 84
90 — 89 88 81
Loctite Henkel Stepan Kaiser Aluminum PetroliteJ
267 265 260 254 254
15.3 -8.0 10.1 -0.1 -12.5
100.0 100.0 100.0 11.5 90.7
Specialty chemicals Specialty chemicals Specialty chemicals Nonferrous metals Specialty chemicals
37 na 14 34 23
5.5 na 51.7 333.3 -36.8
100.0 na 100.0 60.0 94.6
13.8 na 5.4 13.3 9.0
244 100.0 na na 153 100.0 284 8.8 158 68.8
15.1 na 9.2 11.9 14.4
84 87 88 89 90
80 91 82 78 95
Vulcan Materials Lonza Dexter Mississippi Chemical11 Sigma-Aldrich
254 252 245 228 199
-13.2 27.9 -12.9 -30.0 20.9
26.5 100.0 37.6 100.0 78.8
Nonmetallic minerals Specialty chemicals Rubber products Farm cooperative Specialty chemicals
19 na 23 -13 53
-19.9 na -17.4 def 11.5
12.1 na 30.3 def. 84.4
7.7 na 9.5 def 26.4
na na na na 162 62.6 265 100.0 207 84.4
na na 14.4 def 25.5
91 92 93 94 95
93 99 92 97 96
Essex Chemical Crompton & Knowles Georgia-Pacific First Mississippi Agway
184 165 155 153 143
6.8 46.1 -10.4 1.2 -11.8
89.4 77.2 2.1 56.8 4.1
Basic chemicals Specialty chemicals Wood products Agrochemicals Farm cooperative
32 15 na 20 na
0.0 19.4 na -36.3 na
115.3 65.1 na def na
17:4 9.0 na 13.0 na
105 94 na 67 na
76.3 83.5 na 26.1 na
30.5 15.8 na 29.6 na
96 97 98 99 100
— 98 — 100 —
Quaker Chemical UGI LeaRonal Lawter Chemicals Products Research & Chemical
128 113 105 104 83
4.4 -3.9 -19.5 7.0 10.4
100.0 25.4 100.0 100.0 90.2
Specialty chemicals Natural gas Specialty chemicals Diversified Specialty chemicals
14 0 10 20 16
11.3 def -26.1 49.0 18.3
100.0 def 100.0 100.0 82.9
10.8 def 9.8 19.0 18.7
99 100.0 168 28.8 65 100.0 93 100.0 53 82.7
14.0 def 15.8 21.1 29.5
- 2 . 6 % 33.9% na na 22.8 100.0 na na 25.9 def
13.4% na 23.3 na 6.7
$580 43.1% na na 673 100.0 na na 342 33.6
15.1% na 21.5 na 11.6
a Operating profit is sales less administrative expenses and cost of sales, b Operating profit from chemicals as a percentage of chemical sales, c Chemical operating profit as a percentage of identifiable chemical assets, d Chemical sales include significant amounts of nonchemical products, e Does not include all chemical sales, f Fiscal year ends Sept. 30~. g Chemical net profits, h Fiscal year ends June 30. i Fiscal year ends Nov. 30. j Fiscal year ends Oct. 31. na = not available, def = deficit.
May 4, 1987 C&EN
I
11
Business
C&EN's five-way ranking of the Top 100 chemical producers Chemical operating profits Rank
Chemical sales Rank $ Millions
1986
1985
1986
$ 143 Agway Air Products 1,798 Allied-Signal 2,819 Aluminum Co. of America 840 American Cyanamid 1,821
95 20 11 41 19
96 21 17 85 19
na $363 346 na 135
American Hoechst American Petrofina Amoco Aristech Ashland Oil
1,331 441 2,928 751 1,477
29 67 9 46 26
28 71 9
Atlantic Richfield BASF Betz Laboratories Borden Borg-Warner
4,915 3,600 344 1,638 1,043
Cabot CBI Industries Celanese CF Industries Chemed Chevron Ciba-Geigy Crompton & Knowles Dexter Dow Chemical
1986
1985
— 9 10
8 13
—
—
27
34
—
—
48 7 34 42
71 3
26
na 53 467 98 71
5 7 75 24 38
6 12 79 25 38
na na 63 176 153
— —
— —
43 19 21
43 19 22
769 451 2,891 766 314
43 66 10 44 77
49
26 44 14 82 62
32
8 39 77
138 60 258 -45 33
2,378 1,490 165 245 8,863
14 25 92 88 2
11 24 99 82 2
147 na 15 23 978
1,085 11,839 2,379 699 666
34 1 13 49 50
40 1 13 48 54
Essex Chemical Ethyl Exxon Farmland Industries Ferro
184 1,272 6,079 574 286
91 31 3 56 80
First Mississippi FMC Freeport-McMoRan H. B. Fuller GAF
153 1,399 374 528 378
General Electric Georgia-Pacific B. F. Goodrich W. R. Grace Great Lakes Chemical Henkel Henley Group Hercules Huntsman Chemical International Flavors
Dow Corning Du Pont Eastman Kodak Eli Lilly Engelhard
12
1986
Chemical operating profit margin Rank
May 4, 1987 C&EN
—
—
— 40
— 20 80 55
Identifiable chemical assets Rank
1986
1986
1985
na 20.2% 12.3 na 7.4
—
—
4 36
10 39
—
—
63
64
na 12.0 15.9 13.0 4.8
—
—
38 18 34 72
73 15
na na 18.4 10.7 14.7
— —
— —
11 47 22
9 44 22
17.9 13.3 8.9 def 10.5
13 31 56
—
—
—
48
24
6.2 na 9.0 9.5 11.0
69
—
— —
54 51 45
32 35 66
— 63
27 67
11
—
56 20 42
64 21 54
45 43
—
— 29 66
52 9 30 72
—
45
32
19
—
— —
12 47 9
10 46 7
8 55
—
— —
—
17
8
4.6 na 15.8 14.4 12.0
69
—
— —
31 39 48
20 17 61
19.1 na 23.5 12.6 27.3 27.9 10.9 na def 20.3
19 63
79 35 3 55 75
30.5 29.8 14.8 def 13.7
3 4 36
59
71 31 3 51 66
43
4 9 53 75 46
34 17 4 62 1
7 31 5 53 2
67 1344 244 291 252
75 22 60 53 58
82 24 68 65 67
29.6 16.7 31.0 13.6 42.8
5 26 2 44 1
2 38 1 33 3
3602 na 1199 1633 na
11.8 na 11.1 17.5 na
20 224 76 39 108
68 17 41 58 30
60 17 26 57 29
13.0 16.0 20.2 7.5 28.6
2,331 155 1,458 2,492 300
16 93 27 12 79
14 92 27 10 83
424 na 134 285 43
18.2 na 9.2 11.4 14.2
265 435 1,709 570 621
82 68 22 57 53
25
494 552 na 842 162
14
—
—
105 829 5508 342 162
97 29 68 67 76
23
2085 na 270 1399 562
69 15
10 16 56 78 59
94 28 73 62 72
64
50
—
15 24
40 50 41 36
15 7 29
—
—
44
—
—
17.4 19.4 13.4 def 7.8
—
—
na 21.3 18.3 na 13.5
18 57 66 46
59 12 7 77 69
—
61 10
57
—
63 15 4 81 67
50
—
59 9
—
56
na 20.2 10.0 6.9 12.7
32 247 817 -38 22
20
—
—
2 12 32 49
93 30 3 47 86
na 13.8 5.9 na 23.3
na 250 2545 na 527
24 44
—
49 48 27 33
—
25
—
26 30
1 11 32 37
—
21 51 61 41
44 33
—
23
na 16.7% 16.0 na 10.6
—
na 14.9 9.5 7.6 11.6
—
1 14 32 42
na 60 101 na 144
—
1985
—
na 8739 2266 766 607
—
1 16 48 40
—
16 15
1986
81 74 1
—
37 10 54
12 13
1986
73 66 2
na 1,764 227 53 77
28 12 55
na $2173 2161 na 1275
—
8
71 63 6
4
1985
—
—
72 65 2
—
1986
8
84
—
8
1986
—
22
—
—
Return on chemical assets Rank
—
12
8
—
—
53 42 24
57 46 14
26 70
—
—
—
3
4
74
3207 na 94 162 8139
na 359 1464 na 673
6
7
—
—
25 17
27 14
— —
— — —
49 19
19
—
—
35
44
na 16.7 6.9 na 21.5
—
50
35
—
—
54 25
55 36
— —
— — —
26 66
71
—
—
14
14
Chemical operating profits Rank
Chemical sales Rank $ Millions
Chemical operating profit margin Rank
Identifiable chemical assets Rank
Return on chemical assets Rank 1985 1986 1986
1986
1986
1985
1986
1986
1985
1986
1986
1985
1986
1986
1985
$1,077 254 456 589 104
35 84 65 55 99
34 88 65 52 100
$ 35 34 14 40 20
60 61 73 57 68
18 76 50 83 70
3.2% 13.3 3.1 6.7 19.0
74 31 75 68 9
25 72 37
$2042 284 na 342 93
15 54
23 62 43 58 80
1.7% 11.9 na 11.6 21.1
73 49 51 16
—
105 491 267 252 889
98 63 81 87 39
— 66 90 91 44
10 59 37 na 140
77 46 59
46 57
49 38 26
26 17
— —
— —
—
—
—
—
—
—
24
29
19
30
39
39
15.8 9.9 15.1 na 23.7
31 58 34
—
65 595 244 na 589
76 38 60
—
9.8 12.0 13.8 , na 15.7
11
28
Merck Mississippi Chemical Mobay Mobil Monsanto
359 228 1,710 2,351 4,701
74 89 21 15 6
69 78 23 15 4
50 -13 193 57 896
52 80 18 47 3
46 77 16 •34 2
13.9 def 11.3 2.4 19.1
25
23 77 41 70 42
431 265 1246 2021 3860
48 57 24 16 5
59 60 26 13 5
11.6 def 15.4 2.8 23.2
51
26 74 34 68 39
Morton Thiokol Nalco Chemical National Distillers National Starch NL Industries
652 736 1,087 1,064 734
51 47 33 36 48
53 50 35 41 58
87 108 124 140 na
38 30 29 24
13.4 14.7 11.4 13.2 na
—
18 12 52 50 6
580 586 1385 743 na
41 40 21 33
—
31 22 39 41 20
—
47 48 36 37 57
15.1 18.4 8.9 18.9 na
—
23 11 46 43 5
Occidental Petroleum Olin Pennwalt Petrolite Pfizer
2,088 1,114 777 254 416
17 32 42 84 69
22 33 51 81 74
176 80 93 23 41
19 39 35 65 56
28 53 45 56 68
8.4 7.2 12.0 9.0 9.8
57 64 38 54 49
54 68 43 27 64
2393 840 649 158 439
10 30 36 69 47
18 31 38 71 56
7.3 9.5 14.3 14.4 9.2
65 59 41 39 60
58 60 45 13 64
Phillips Petroleum Polysar PPG Industries Products Research &
1,698 536 843 83
23 61 40 100
15 63 42
28
22
—
—
—
299 na 103 16
26 77
—
28.4 na 8.7 29.5
128
96
—
14
72
—
14.0
766 380 2,067 3,292 199
44 71 18 8 90
43 73 18 7 95
53 na 280 648 53
11.6 na 19.0 18.8 25.5
550 475 260 317 626
58 64 83 76 52
62 59 89 72 56
na 11 14 na na
—
Texaco Tyler UGI Union Camp Union Carbide
1,279 388 113 305 5,001
30 70 97 78 4
31 75 98 84 5
Unocal Vista Chemical Vulcan Materials Williams Cos. Witco
1,056 550 254 613 544
37 58 84 54 60
32 61 80 45 56
International Minerals Kaiser Aluminum Kerr-McGee Koppers Lawter International LeaRonal Liquid Air Loctite Lonza Lubrizol
Quaker Chemical Reichhold Chemicals Rhône-Poulenc Rohm & Haas Shell Oil Sigma-Aldrich Solvay America Standard Oil Stepan Sun Co. Terra Chemicals
11
11
—
—
32 71
—
17.6 na 12.2 18.7
73
—
10.8 7.0 na 13.5 19.7 26.4
36
48
66
—
—
13 6 48
9 15 50
76 73
64 74
— —
— —
na 2.3 5.4 na na
91 27 0 6 748
36 64 79 78 5
71 62 79 74 5
7.1 7.0 def 2.0 15.0
46 91 19 na 45
53 37 70
46
4.4 16.5 7.7 na 8.2
— 54
— 65 62 49
— 44 76 8 29 22 42 33
— 19
14
37
—
—
37 10
39
—
1053 na 1185 53
46
—
99 458 na 1470 3447 207
66
28
62 56
— —
— —
— —
29 70 77 69 4
8.2 14.5 def 2.7 14.8
64 38
73 21 76 64 49
34
34
— — —
— —
6.4 na na na 16.2
76 47 79 71 33
1114 187 168 227 5047
27 64 65 62 4
62
722 na na na 275
—
58
36
45
—
—
— —
—
42
54
70 60
— —
—
—
—
46 76
73 16 60
63 6
na 3.2 9.2 na na
—
50 70
65 66
22
—
16 67 6
—
— —
7
—
20 22 10
na 347 153 na na
61 69
34 23 62 21
64
20 6 73
77 71
33 71 13
25
—
18 7 63
19 60 1
—
27
51
51
—
28 6 2
—
—
46
75
—
78 20
51 74
—
66
—
—
—
42 72 51
55
45 63
— 72 36 68
52
— — —
— — —
29
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Note: Companies with negative profitability and those giving only net profits are not ranked. There are 82 firms ranked for operating profits, 78 for operating profit margin, 77 for chemical assets, and 73 for return on assets for 1986. na = not available, def = deficit.
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Business closed down businesses. However, the three largest chemical producers—Du Pont, Dow Chemical, and Exxon—remained first, second, and third, respectively; beyond that, companies began to shift positions. Union Carbide, which had ranked fifth in 1985, moved up to fourth, a rank it has not held since 1981. And Atlantic Richfield rose to fifth place from sixth in 1985. Monsanto, which had ranked fourth from 1985 chemical sales, dropped to sixth in 1986 as the company sold off some of its chemical operations. BASF Corp., the U.S. arm of West Germany's BASF, rose to seventh place from 12th in 1985 as results from recently acquired companies such as Enka and Inmont began to be felt. Shell Oil, however, fell to eighth place from ninth, partly owing to divestiture. Amoco remained in ninth place, the same as in 1985, and Celanese dropped to 10th place from eighth the year before. For the 1986 ranking, Celanese and American Hoechst are treated as separate companies since they were independent throughout the entire year (but merged at the beginning of this year). As in each year's Top 100 ranking, companies in the 1986 list are compared with what their rankings were one year ago rather than what they would have been based on restated results in the current year annual report. Thus, a rise or fall in rank may well reflect acquired or divested chemical businesses during the year as well as increasing or decreasing sales from operations. Eight companies are new to the list this year. The largest of these is Aristech at 46th place. This is the former chemical operations of USX Corp. that were spun off last year and formed into a separate publicly traded company. Huntsman Chemical, also new at 57th place, has as its core the former styrenics business of American Hoechst. CBI Industries, which is ranked 66th, has as its chemical operations the Liquid Carbonics industrial gas business, acquired from Enron, which has been removed from the list because it no longer is a chemical producer. Henkel Corp., in 82nd place, is not new to the list but reappears after being off the rankings for 1985
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May 4, 1987 C&EN
when it did not break out its U.S. sales. Three companies, Quaker Chemical at 96th, LeaRonal at 98th, and Products Research & Chemical at 100th, have moved onto the list as a result of sales growth and other companies' having dropped off the list because of divested chemical operations. Besides Enron, other companies that have dropped off the Top 100 listing this year are Big Three Industries, acquired by Liquid Air; Chesebrough-Pond's, acquired by Unilever; Emhart, which has reorganized and no longer breaks out chemical sales in its annual report (efforts to reach the company were unsuccessful); Millmaster Onyx, which has sold its operations in a leveraged buyout; SCM, acquired by Hanson Trust; USX Corp., which spun off its chemical operations to form Aristech; and Williams Cos., which has sold its Agrico fertilizer operations to Freeport-McMoRan. As usual, some companies that have large chemical operations do not appear on the list. Some of the more outstanding examples are such U.S.-based firms as 3M and Procter & Gamble; privately held companies such as J. M. Huber; and foreign-owned companies with U.S. operations such as Imperial Chemical Industries' ICI Americas and Schering A.G.'s Sherex Chemical. The rankings of the largest chemical producers remain less precise than desired, because C&EN must by and large rely on the data supplied by the companies themselves, and the definition of what is a chemical or where to include chemical operations varies widely from company to company. Those data can include nonchemical operations in some firms such as Monsanto, Aluminum Co. of America, and BASF Corp. Other firms, such as Witco, PPG Industries, and Occidental Petroleum, have significant chemical operations that are hidden within divisions other than those that they decide to call chemical. Besides the sales rankings, C&EN rates the 100 largest chemical producers four other ways, by chemical operating profits, operating profit margin (chemical operating profits as a percentage of chemical sales), identifiable chemical assets, and re-
turn on chemical assets (chemical operating profits as a percentage of identifiable chemical assets). As in chemical sales ($11.8 billion in 1986), Du Pont was number one in chemical operating profits with a total of $1.76 billion. Dow Chemical ranks second with $978 million in chemical operating profits, up from sixth place in 1985. Monsanto, at third with $896 million, dropped from second in 1985. Fourth-place Exxon had chemical operating profits of $817 million and was up from seventh in 1985. And Union Carbide, with chemical operating profits of $748 million, was fifth, the same as in 1985. The top-ranking company for chemical operating profit margin was GAF, with a return of 28.6%, up from second in 1985. SigmaAldrich ranked second with a return of 26.4%; it fell from first place in 1985. Ranked third is International Flavors & Fragrances with a return of 23.3%. IFF held fourth place the year before. Air Products and Freeport-McMoRan tied for fourth place with an operating profit margin of 20.2%. In 1985, Air Products had ranked 10th and Freeport had been fifth. Du Pont ranked first in identifiable chemical assets with $8.74 billion, and Dow ranked second with $8.14 billion. This is a reversal of their rankings in 1985. Exxon ranked third with $5.51 billion, the same rank as the previous year. Fourth, and the same rank as in 1985, was Union Carbide at $5.05 billion. And Monsanto was fifth with identifiable chemical assets of $3.86 billion. Monsanto also had been fifth the previous year. As with operating profit margin, GAF ranked first in return on identifiable chemical assets with 42.8%. This is up from third in 1985. Freeport-McMoRan ranked second with a return of 31.0%. In 1985, Freeport had been first. Essex Chemical ranked third, up from fourth in last year's ranking, with its return on chemical assets of 30.5%. Ethyl ranked fourth with a return of 29.8%, and was up from ninth place in 1985. And in fifth place was First Mississippi, with a return on chemical assets of 29.6%. In 1985, First Mississippi had ranked second. D
