Aktiengesellschaft | |
Traded as | |
Industry | revenue = €3.82 billion (2014) |
Founded | 1889 |
Headquarters | Kassel, Germany |
Key people
|
Norbert Steiner (CEO and Chairman of the executive board), Ralf Bethke (Chairman of the supervisory board) |
Products | Fertilizers, plant chemicals, salt |
€641.3 million (2014) | |
Profit | €366.6 million (2014) |
Total assets | €7.855 billion (end 2014) |
Total equity | €3.975 billion (end 2014) |
Number of employees
|
14,295 (FTE, average 2014) |
Website | www.k-plus-s.com |
K+S AG (formerly Kali und Salz GmbH) is a German chemical company headquartered in Kassel. The company is Europe’s largest supplier of potash for use in fertilizer and, after the acquisition of Morton Salt, the world's largest salt producer. The firm also produces and distributes other mineral fertilizers, such as those from magnesium and sulphur. K+S is mainly active in Europe, North and South America with more than 14,000 employees worldwide (2014).
K+S was founded in 1889 as Aktiengesellschaft für Bergbau und Tiefbohrung and was renamed to Salzdetfurth AG in 1899. After merging with the potash division of BASF subsidiary Wintershall in 1973 the company was renamed to Kali und Salz (Kalium = potassium and Salz = salt in German). In 1999 the company was renamed K+S. Since September 22, 2008 the stock is part of German stock index DAX, consisting of the 30 major German companies trading on the . K+S has expanded internationally and is represented in 22 different countries: Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland in Europe, Canada and the US in North America, Brazil, Chile and Peru in South America, South Africa, China, India and Singapore.