ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands, May 4, 2006 -- Univar N.V., a world leader in chemical distribution, today announced results for its fiscal first quarter ended March 31, 2006. 

 Highlights Q1 2006

 -  Univar reported first-quarter 2006 EBIT of USD 54.8 million, an increase of 19.1% over first-quarter 2005’s USD 46.0 million.  Results were driven by solid sales growth and continued focus on expense management.

 -  Consolidated first-quarter net sales grew by 8.9% to USD 1,583.0 million compared with USD 1,453.0 million in 2005. The improvement was due to comparatively similar rates of revenue growth for the company’s three major business units—Univar USA, Univar Europe and Univar Canada.  On a currency-neutral basis, consolidated net sales increased 11.0%.

 -  Effective expense controls, combined with higher revenue and gross margin dollars, resulted in a year-over-year decline in operating expenses as a percent of gross margin, to 77.1% in 2006’s first quarter from 79.3% in 2005’s first quarter.

 -  The company reported a 16.7% gain in net income available to common shareholders in first-quarter 2006 to USD 30.8 million, or USD 1.06 per common share, compared with USD 26.4 million, or USD 0.90 per common share, a year ago.    

 Market Environment

 In North America, manufacturing activity during the first quarter was reasonably strong, while in Europe, industrial production in the markets served by Univar was less robust. Univar’s North American results were driven by modest increases in chemical pricing, increased pound volumes, as well as increased gross margin per pound of product sold. The company noted specific strength in the Energy sector. In Europe, improved performance was realized in the UK and Italy, with particularly strong results in France, which is benefiting from restructuring activities undertaken over the past two years. Univar’s overall profitability continues to improve, with EBIT margin for Q1 2006 of 3.5% compared with 3.2% in the year-ago quarter.

 Outlook

 Based on the operating progress of the past several years and a continued expectation for moderate growth in chemical demand, Univar believes it is well positioned to achieve year-over-year operating performance improvement in sales and EBIT again in 2006. Compared to 2005, we anticipate a lessening in our rate of growth as further uplift from chemical pricing is less likely.

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