BASF has announced sales in the first six months of the year have grown to £465m compared to £437m in the same period last year.

And the German company revealed that figure owed a great deal to a significant development in sales from its plastics & fibres operations. The company employs around 700 people in that sector on Teesside.

Improved performances were recorded in all individual businesses with sales of speciality chemicals being well ahead of last year.

The good news for the firm follows last year's poor results which came just months after a decision was made to axe 260 from their plastics and fibres division at Seal Sands, as part of a £30m restructuring plan to secure the plant's viability.

Sales in the company's plastics and fibres division was £140m in the first six months to June 30, up 19 per cent from £118m in the first half of 1999. Overall sales were up six per cent in total.

Late last year the Targor arm of the company, based at Wilton, merged with Shell, with BASF saying the merger would help create a world leader.

Shell and BASF each own 50 per cent of the enterprise which has its holding company in the Netherlands. The joint venture will have a turnover of more than £4bn, and the investment will ensure polypropylene research and development continues at Wilton.

The company said it expected the positive trend to continue during the second half of 2000.