ESSEN (dpa-AFX) - Fewer PowerPoint slides and more support for the divisions from finance headquarters: that's how Maike Schuh, the new CFO of chemicals group Evonik, envisions the future. "I know the operational hardships, I know where the divisions need more support, including in the finance functions," Schuh said in a round of talks with journalists in Essen on Wednesday evening. This is then also how the growth targets are to be achieved.

"We have set ourselves ambitious targets for the difficult year 2023. But it's also clear that from 2024 onward, we have to improve significantly again in terms of profit and return on capital. At the current level, they are not in line with what we are aiming for in the long term and what you have to expect from specialty chemicals businesses."

The 49-year-old manager joined Evonik in 2015 after working as a tax expert at the consulting firm KMPG and the technology group Heraeus, where she initially headed up accounting. From 2020, the law graduate was then responsible for finance, human resources, and strategy in the Performance Materials Division, which she took over in 2022. Evonik had bundled its businesses with standard chemicals in this division, which are gradually being sold off as part of the focus on more profitable specialty chemicals.

At the beginning of April, she took over Group Finance from Ute Wolf. She intends to build on her work. Group Controlling must become a true strategic "sparring partner" for the business units, able to provide sufficient recommendations for action, Schuh said. She wants more root cause analysis of why growth is lacking here and there. This requires less PowerPoint presentations, she said, and more in-depth analysis and preparation of the key figures relevant to managing the individual businesses.

At some point during her time in the Performance Materials division, she said, "No more PowerPoint" - and that worked for long stretches. Instead, she used an app linked to controlling software to illustrate key figures quickly and easily. "And that's what I now want for all of Evonik."

All this is intended to help the business units achieve their growth targets. And that's exactly what it will take to regain favor with investors. Evonik's stock, for example, has been lagging the market for a long time.

Over the past five years, the share price has fallen by more than a third, while the European sector index Stoxx Europe 600 Chemicals has risen by a third. And not only in relative terms, but also in absolute terms, the Essen-based company has given investors little cause for celebration in recent years. Even including dividends, the losses for investors who bought the shares at the end of 2016 add up to twelve percent.

At the same time, Schuh has to help drive the Group's restructuring in the current difficult economic environment. Demand in the industry slumped towards the end of last year, with the uncertain economy driving people to save. At the same time, many customers - including Evonik - were sitting on quite full inventories that first had to be cleared. In addition, energy prices in Europe remain high, even if the major energy price shock caused by the war in Ukraine and the lack of Russian natural gas supplies has only just passed.

In this environment it is important to maintain a balance between cost discipline and investment in future growth. As has been known for about a year, Evonik intends to invest a great deal of money in hoped-for growth areas. Three billion euros have been earmarked for more environmentally friendly products by 2030, which are expected to contribute half of Group sales by then. A further €700 million will be invested in the further development of production processes and in infrastructure, for example, to reduce CO2 emissions. Major acquisitions could also be put back on the agenda in the future.

For the time being, however, the focus will remain on divesting the Performance Materials Division's standard chemicals business. Evonik only recently found a buyer for the Lülsdorf site south of Cologne, where cyanuric chloride for crop protection products and potassium derivatives for the food, feed and pharmaceutical industries are produced.

For the two larger businesses, Super Absorbers with highly absorbent materials for diapers, for example, and the C4 Verbund around petrochemical additives for rubber, plastics and specialty chemicals, clarity is still expected by the end of the year. According to Schuh, initial, brief offer documents for the Super Absorber business were recently sent to potentially interested parties./mis/stw/zb