Ecolab Inc. Appoints Chairmen and CEO of Cargill, Inc.

The announcement was made by the board of directors of the healthcare company of the appointment of the new director.

Ecolab, Inc. has recently appointed the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cargill, Inc., David W. MacLennan. Cargill, Inc. is a worldwide producer, marketer and manufacturer of food, financial, agricultural services and products. The global leader is headquartered in Minneapolis whose chair and CEO will now serve as one of the board members of Ecolab. This announcement was made by the Board of Directors of the health care company.

The new director added to the Board of Directors of the healthcare company is 56 years old and has quite a few years of experience in the industry. According to the Chairman and CEO of the leading health services provider, Douglas M. Baker Jr the new hire brings a lot of experience from all aspects of the industry including financial, operational along with global to the healthcare company. He added that they will look forward to the contribution of Mr. Dave as they continue to grow the business worldwide.

Mr. David has been the CEO of Cargill since 2013 and became the Chairman of the global leader in producing and manufacturing various products in September 2015. From the 2011, he has served in the leading company as the chief operating offer as well as the president. Even before all these top management positions, he held various high level seats in the company, serving as the chief financial officer. Initially he was the President of Cargill Energy along with being the managing director of a Value Investment Group. Along with holding various positions in Cargill, the experienced director has been a part of Piper Jaffray, Goldberg Securities and US Bancorp.

In other news, a quarterly dividend by Ecolab, Inc. was announced on December 3, 2015. During the trading that took place on Thursday, Ecolab stock was being traded at $118.22 which showed a decline in the stock of 0.35%. During the courses of the trade, the volume of shares that were being traded was 890,139 shares. The current market capitalization of the health care company is $34.91 billion. The earnings per share reported were 2.63 with a price to earnings ratio of 44.79.

The one year high of the health services company is $122.48 while the one year low of the company is $97.78. Currently the dividend that’s being offered is at $0.35 with a dividend yield of 1.19. Institutional Investors own over 89% of Ecolab’s shares. For the quarter, the revenue that was reported by the health services company was $3.45 billion while the analysts had predicted it to be $3.55 billion. There was a difference of 0.10 billion in the actual and predicted revenue.

EcoLab Going Strong Internationally Despite Low Oil Price, Economic Woes

Low oil prices crimping its oil and gas division business but also proves a boon for its overall business in terms of lower material prices

EcoLab Inc (NYSE:ECL) witnessed a stellar year for the past three years. Compared to the last fiscal year in 2013, the company recorded an 8% growth in revenues this year, averaging at 4.5% per year. This is attributed to the company’s successful execution of its business strategy ranging from acquisitions to cost savings, innovation to expansion into new markets. All this is done to ensure that the company does not keep itself fixated to one sector while heavily exposing itself to factors such as sharp currency fluctuations and other macroeconomic problems, such as the slowdown in the Chinese as well as the global economy.

EcoLab has derived most of its revenues from the oil and gas segment. Oil prices last year, during the summer, reached their peak at approximately $115 per barrel, before tumbling down to between $45-55 per barrel today. Apparently, the company had generated its revenue in the last six months of 2014, when oil prices remained at tolerable levels of an average between $70-75 per barrel. The revenue growth from the energy side declined as many oil majors cut back on their capital investments

The business recorded a 25% growth in sales from the energy segment, partly assisted by the acquisitions of Champion Technologies and Nalco. This ensures that the company expands it footprint in the energy-related chemicals sector required by the oil and gas industry. EcoLab’s other business segments, Global Industrial and Global Institutional, have all recorded strong growths from their sides too. The former clocked in a 4% growth to $1.28 billion, thanks to the launch of its 3D TRASAR, whereas the latter reported a 6% growth to $1.18 billion, due to addition of additional portfolio of products.

The future speculations suggest that EcoLab’s revenue sales from the energy segment will suffer due to cutbacks from oil and gas investments. The fall in oil prices will be beneficial for other segments of the company in the form of low material costs. On the financial side, it has an operating cash flow at $1.64 billion against the capital of $788 million, providing enough flexibility to pay dividends to its investors. The company is also on the verge of buying back $1billion worth of shares, resulting in a strong effect on the company’s dividends and share. Overall, from a business and financial point of view, there is no possible threat to the business, especially since its business model is working wonderfully.