Degussa is the global market leader in specialty chemicals. Our innovative products and system solutions make an indispensable contribution to our customers' success, which we sum up by our claim "creating essentials". In fiscal 2004 Degussa's 45,000 employees worldwide generated sales of 11.2 billion euros and operating profits (EBIT) of 965 million euros.Building Blocks Business Unit:The Building Blocks Business Unit focuses on high-quality synthetic building blocks and intermediates. Its activities are based on the continuous development and refinement of a broad range of products using the instruments of technological expertise, backward integration of suppliers of all essential raw material suppliers, and above all market proximity.The Building Blocks Business Unit seeks to offer the right products for diverse applications and markets and to maintain its competitive edge by keeping to keep its range of products one step ahead of its customers′ changing needs and requirements.The newly formed business unit is a leading supplier of such products as alkoholates, alkyl chlorides, pyrimidines, cyanamide, dicyandiamide, cyanuric chloride, cyanoacetates, malonates, orthoesters, NCN derivatives, phenolic antioxidants, and triacetoneamine derivatives. Target markets include the coatings and colorants industry, the plastics industry, and the cosmetics, agricultural, and pharmaceuticals industries. The Building Blocks Business Unit has taken up operations with sales of about ?700 million and almost 1,900 employees, and maintains production facilities at twelve sites in Europe and the NAFTA region.