(52,63 EUR, 1,19%) Nobel issued a press release this morning to announce its intention to invest € 65m in order to increase capacity and improve operational excellence at its Chinese Surface Chemistry sties in Boxing and Ningbo. In Boxing, will build a multipurpose reactor to increase the amines production capacity as well as invest in HSE practices to bring this site to standards (Boxing site was acquired in January 2012). In Ningbo, will build a new alkoxylation unit.
Furthermore, will close down two out of three fatty acid plants at the Boxing site, which will affect about 200 employees.
Our View:
The investments are fairly small news, when compared to annual capex guidance of about 4% of revenues (or around € 0.6bn). No impact on our investment case. We maintain our Hold rating for now.