ST. LOUIS (July 29, 2010)—Solutia said its Technical Specialties unit, which houses its Flexsys business, is operating at margins of 39 percent, up from 20 percent when it was acquired in 2007.
Jim Voss, executive vice president, said in Solutia's second quarter results that this progress in the Flexsys unit demonstrates Solutia's ability to restructure a business to extract maximum value.
The company said sales in the unit reached $811 million in 2010, even though Flexsys has exited the primary accelerators market. The division now sells two key product lines: Santoflex (antidegradents) and Crystex (insoluble sulphur).
Voss said Flexsys is about a year away from introducing a process for making insoluble sulphur which should improve quality and reduce costs.
He also said the company intends to build a Crystex plant in China soon, saying that it would be full as soon as it opens because the company is shipping large volumes to China from its existing facilities.