When Elementis put out an entirely predictable profit warning a month ago, there were fears over other specialist chemicals businesses, such as Croda International. Those concerns seem to be overdone.
Elementis has an exposure to the oil and gas industries and is considerably smaller. Croda is a whisker off joining the FTSE 100. It also has a life sciences, or healthcare, division that is growing at double-digit rates, providing pharmaceutical-grade Omega-3 and other specialist products.
This gives some protection from the usual cyclical trends in chemicals and against the inevitable erosion of earnings from the high pound.
It is also no accident; Croda has spent the past few years moving away from bulk product and into more profitable business, working directly with customers producing