LUXEMBOURG—Orion Engineered Carbons S.A. reported significant gains in sales, leading to an increased net income for the second quarter of 2016.
Sales grew 20.7 percent to $353.3 million, causing net income to increase to $19.8 million, up about $300,000 from the previous period.
For the six-month period, Oiron reported growth in sales to $712.6 million, up from $583.2 million in 2016. Gross profit came in at $205.4 million, up from $198.2 million.
"Our end markets have maintained a reasonable amount of stability and are increasingly signaling growth in our major segments," Orion CEO Jack Clem said in a statement.
The firm's specialty carbon black and rubber fillers businesses reported growth in sales, by 13.3 percent to $131 million and 25.6 percent to $139.3 million, respectively.
Volumes for the specialty carbon black business increased by 2.9 percent while rubber carbon black experienced a 12.1 percent decrease, largely as a result of the closure of its production facility in Ambes, France.
Clem said the rubber business "benefited from stable demand, an improving portfolio of higher margin technical grades and the improvements in cost as a result of our internal initiatives, including the shuttering of capacity in France."