Lonza sales improve

The division "continued to improve performance as expected", the company said in its six-month financial report.

The strongest performance was in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region - the latter driven by strong sales in Australia and New Zealand's strengthening construction industries.

In North America prolonged wintry weather at the end of 2013, and customers having bought large stocks, affected volumes in the first half of this year. US housing starts were lower than expected in the first quarter but now overall market conditions have improved.
In Europe, sales did particularly well in Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

Lonza said the strategic evaluation of its wood protection business, announced early last year, was "on its way".

"We will update the financial markets as soon as a decision has been made to either divest the business or to go for other strategic options," the company said.