ESSEN (dpa-AFX) - The specialty chemicals company Evonik has also significantly increased its free cash flow at the start of the year. At 127 million, free cash flow, which is also important for the dividend, reached a multiple of the figure achieved a year ago, as the company announced on Wednesday when it published its final results for the first quarter. As already known, turnover fell by a good 5 percent to just under 3.8 billion euros despite a recovery in demand, but this was also due to lower raw material costs, some of which were passed on to customers. The operating result rose by around 28 percent to around 522 million euros. The bottom line for the shareholders is a surplus of 156 million - compared to 47 million a year ago.

The MDax group is also making progress with its planned administrative restructuring, in the course of which - as announced in March - up to 2,000 of a total of around 33,000 jobs are to be cut, around 1,500 of them in Germany. Once the program is completed in 2026, the annual costs are expected to be around 400 million euros lower than before. "Negotiations on the framework conditions for socially responsible job cuts in Germany as part of the program have been concluded," Evonik said on Tuesday. The program is expected to deliver initial savings contributions from the end of the year./mis/stk