Forbes article also points to Ciba and Clariant as acquisition targets

A further article, this time by Forbes, suggests the efforts of Ciba to streamline its business seem to have been in vain. The article gives views on Ciba's 2nd half 2008 financial results where they posted a larger loss than analysts were expecting, possibly making Ciba vulnerable to a takeover bid.

Ciba's shares fell 16.6%, or 5.30 Swiss francs ($4.83), to 26.60 Swiss francs ($24.23), in Zurich on Tuesday morning, after it reported a loss of 606.0 million Swiss francs ($552.0 million), during the second quarter of the year, following a profit of 27.0 million Swiss francs, a year earlier. The company also took a 595.0 million Swiss franc ($542.1 million) charge on its water and paper-treatment unit.

Like the rest of the chemicals industry Ciba has been struggling with rising raw material costs, as well as quality competition from Asia. (See “Clariant Collapses On Costs.”).

The article goes on to point out that, 'With a market capitalization of 2.2 billion Swiss francs ($2.0 billion), Ciba is trading at 9.2 times its 2009 earnings, and its shares have fallen 44.9% since the start of the year. That compares to a 14.0% drop in the Dow Jones EuroStoxx index of European chemical companies.'

As reported in an earlier Bloomberg article, Ciba and Clariant, its fellow Swiss rival, could find themselves the target of takeover interest from a number of Germany chemical giants such as BASF (analyst at Bayerische Landesbank).