The creative industrial group

Our operations are grouped in eight business units which are assigned to five reporting segments: Technology Specialties, Consumer Solutions, Specialty Materials, Energy and Real Estate. The business units act as entrepreneurs within the enterprise and report directly to the Executive Board. The Corporate Center in Essen (Germany) is responsible for strategic management of the Group. The business units and Corporate Center are supported by a Shared Service Center, which provides Group-wide services such as procurement and payroll accounting.

Our portfolio comprises three profitable business areas positioned in attractive markets. At the same time, they offer a high degree of stability and thus reduce risk. Active portfolio management, accompanied by efficient capital allocation, has top priority for the Evonik Group: we only invest in businesses with sustained and profitable growth prospects. Businesses that do not meet our profitability requirements and are not expected to do so in the future will be divested.

In 2007, the Evonik Group had around 43,000 employees and sales of €14.4 billion, 60 percent of which was generated outside Germany. The operating result (EBIT) was €1.3 billion. Consequently, we reported a return on capital employed (ROCE) of 9.5 percent in 2007, which was well above our cost of capital of 8 percent. The cash flow from operating activities was €1.2 billion. Capital expenditures for intangible assets, property, plant, equipment and investment property of around €4.0 billion are planned for 2008 - 2010.

As well as being commercially successful our goal is to take ecological and social responsibility. We therefore accord special importance to transparent reporting, including meaningful segment data, business-unit-specific indicators and extensive financial indicators. We provide detailed information on our financial, ecological and social performance in our annual report.