High gas prices, changeable weather and growing urea imports were among key factors affecting the Grupa Azoty Group's Q1 performance. Strong results posted by Plastics and Pigments, efficient management of nitrogen, and coordinated maintenance shutdown
policy helped mitigate the impact of adverse market trends. As a result, the Group earned revenue of almost PLN 2.5bn, generating EBITDA of PLN 403m.

Only five months after the launch of its innovation accelerator programme Idea4Azoty, Grupa Azoty has selected eight solutions with high implementation potential from among several dozen R&D projects submitted. A letter of intent has just been signed between Grupa Azoty and ScienceBioTech of Wrocław, one of the programme entrants, to develop and implement a technology for producing modular plates to be used in osteotomies*.

In 2017, Grupa Azoty’s revenue increased by over 7%, to PLN 9.6bn, while EBITDA came in at PLN 1.19bn – a 25% increase year on year. After adjusting the operating profit for one-offs disclosed in 2017, EBITDA margin almost equalled the historically best margin delivered in 2015, at 13.1%.

The combination of the potentials of the Group companies based in Tarnów, Puławy, Police and Kędzierzyn has not only helped to keep the key chemical plants in Polish hands, but has also generated numerous cost synergies. The consolidation process initiated seven years ago has yielded savings estimated at no less than PLN 710m.

Four key companies of the Grupa Azoty Group: Grupa Azoty S.A. of Tarnów, Grupa Azoty Police, Grupa Azoty Puławy and Grupa Azoty Kędzierzyn have signed a “Cooperation Agreement”. From now on, they are to work more closely in fertilizers trading and other areas.

On the initiative of Przemysław Czarnek, Governor of the Lublin Province, the Grupa Azoty Group, Poland’s leading chemical group, and the New Chemical Syntheses Institute of Puławy (INS), a renowned Polish research centre, have signed a letter of intent on close and regular cooperation. Group-wide coordination of R&D activities combined with new multidisciplinary projects will improve the Group’s chances of launching innovative solutions on an industrial scale. Fully unlocking the research potential of the Institute, a well-established research centre with over 50 years of presence in the Lublin Province, will also spur further development of the region and the Polish chemical industry at large.