2005 Business Development Strategy Leadership Award in the U.S. Paint Additives Market Goes to Elementis Specialties.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Frost & Sullivan's recent analysis, U.S. Paint Additives Market, selected Elementis Specialties, Inc. as the recipient of the 2005 Business Development Strategy Leadership Award for strengthening its market position in the rheology modifiers segment while successfully expanding into several new segments such as dispersants, surfactants, and defoamers.

Each year, this Award goes to a company that has exhibited excellence in business development within the industry. It recognizes the ability to best perceive consumer needs, develop products and/or services that meet these needs, successfully introduce products or services to the industry, and identify new market segments to expand the existing customer base. The Award also lauds the combination of vision, technology, and successful marketing that enables the recipient to exhibit superior market growth.

"Elementis has demonstrated excellence in business development by adding complementary product lines through its recent acquisition of Sasol Servo BV," says Frost & Sullivan Senior Research Analyst Deepak Tulsian. "Its orientation toward educating its customers about the proper selection of a package of additives exemplifies its long-term strategy for gaining share in the additives market."

Elementis is a leading supplier of rheology modifiers; specifically organoclay rheology modifiers, to the U.S. paints and coatings market and more than half of its additive sales come from this product line. The acquisition of Sasol Servo expands its product portfolio to include, dispersing agents, coalescing agents, surfactants, and defoamers.

To further reinforce its position in the rheology modifiers market, the company is working on developing new clay-based products for aqueous systems, that can offer consistent performance in terms of maintaining sag and leveling at varying temperature and humidity levels, as well as offer significant manufacturing productivity gains.

Simultaneously, the company's focus also extends to the dispersants market. Low volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or VOC-free dispersants, and alkylphenol ethoxylate (APE)-free products are some of the recent offerings introduced by Elementis to penetrate this market.

The availability of a broad range of additives including colorants or dispersed pigments gives Elementis a competitive edge in terms of in-house testing of compatibility between different additive groups. It strives to educate its customers or paint formulators on diverse additives and their benefits.

"Elementis also guides customers in choosing a package of additives that are likely to work best in combination," notes Tulsian. "For example, advice is given on selecting the right hydrophobic or hydrophilic associative thickeners that leads to minimum viscosity drop during the mixing with surfactants in a paint formulation."

By recommending a package of additives that can work better in a particular paint application, Elementis essentially aids its customers in cutting down their process development time.

The company prides itself on maintaining product quality. It has recently installed a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to improve its ability to supply products on time. Elementis' goal is to make products available in local warehouses to facilitate a quick manufacturing turnaround to its customers to enhance customer loyalty.

For these achievements, Elementis is the deserving recipient of Frost & Sullivan's 2005 Business Development Strategy Leadership Award in the U.S. paint additives market.

About Elementis Specialties, Inc

Elementis Specialties parent company is Elementis plc, which was formed when Harrison and Crossfields reorganized itself in 1998, shedding non-core businesses in agriculture, rubber, timber and trading to focus on specialty chemical segments.

Following the acquisition of Rheox(R) in 1998, Elementis Specialties was formed when the assets of four companies were put together to form one specialty additive supplier. In 2001, the company re-organized itself to focus on key customer segments rather than the product focused organization that came via the different acquisitions. This market segmentation allowed the company to create separate business units with complete customer care from marketing through sales, technical service and customer service support. Key segments include Coatings, Inks, Construction, Oilfield Chemicals, Consumer Products, and Adhesives/Sealants.

In 2002, the company expanded with manufacturing into Asia by acquiring the assets of Ren Heng to establish themselves as a key supplier of organoclay in China. In 2004, Elementis Specialties completed the acquisition of Servo to increase its capabilities in the dispersant, surfactant and defoamer areas. It now has manufacturing capabilities in nine sites throughout the world, Research and Development in US and Europe, and Technical Service, Marketing, and Customer Service in Europe, America and Asia.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company's industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investment community, by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. For more information, visit www.frost.com.