Polyolefins and chemicals group Borealis (Vienna / Austria; www.borealisgroup.com) witnessed a rise in net sales by 7% to EUR 4.2 bn in the first half of 2018. In contrast, the company's net profit fell by the same percentage to EUR 533m.

A separate look at the first two quarters of 2018 shows that while Q1 produced a slump in net income, down 23% to EUR 240m, mainly due to low margins in the polyolefin business and the Borouge 2 maintenance – see Plasteurope.com of 09.05.2018 – Q2 turned around, with an increase of 12% to EUR 293m. This was due to rising margins, despite investments in the joint venture the company has with Total Petrochemicals and Refining USA (Houston, Texas / USA; www.totalpetrochemicalsrefiningusa.com) and Nova Chemicals (Calgary, Alberta / Canada; www.novachemicals.com), named Bayport Polymers – see Plasteurope.com of 29.05.2018.

The Austrian group is growing its recycling strategy, with capacity expansions started up in Germany this year – see Plasteurope.com of 11.06.2018. It also recently signed an agreement to take over compatriot plastics recycler Ecoplast Kunststoffrecycling (Wildon; www.ecoplast.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 20.07.2018.