Swiss fine and specialty chemicals producer Lonza delivered expected year-on-year CORE EBIT growth of 11% in constant exchange rates in 2014, and the company has confirmed its updated guidance of late October, when CEO Richard Ridinger said "overall results are on track, and the financial situation remains solid."

Both corporate segments - Specialty Ingredients and Pharma&Biotech - delivered a solid performance last year, Lonza said, despite currency headwinds and the more sluggish performance of the Water Treatment business, which was attributed to unfavorable weather conditions.

Most of the individual businesses performed according to expectations.

"For the third consecutive year, our full-year results demonstrate that we're making good progress in transforming Lonza. Thanks to the efforts of our employees and managers, we will continue our journey from a product-focused organization into a market-driven one," Ridinger said.

The transformation of Lonza will continue in 2015 as planned and previously announced, the CEO said, adding that the company will continue to focus on improving operational efficiency with a stronger focus on embedding quality and balancing the portfolio with a more favorable product mix of higher-margin products and services.

While underscoring that Lonza's underlying business performance "leads us to be confident we will grow sales and profits in 2015," Ridinger noted that, "due to the recent and unexpected volatility in financial and currency markets," management has decided to re-evaluate its outlook and provide guidance for 2015 at a later stage.

He stressed, however, that the Swiss company "continues to have a positive outlook for the future as it is well positioned in its markets."

Also, Ridinger said, Lonza has achieved a substantially better natural hedge with the euro and US dollar" since the acquisition of US biocides specialist Arch Chemicals in 2011 and a more balanced spread of investments globally.

Lonza plans to provide mid-term guidance up to the end of 2018 during the first quarter 2015 qualitative update on 28 April 2015.