ALTANA is strongly affected by the worldwide economic crisis and reports significant decreases in sales and earnings. In the first quarter of 2009, sales fell by 30 percent to €251.8 million; in the prior-year period sales had amounted to €357.6 million.      Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) decreased by 71 percent from €71.7 million in 2008 to €20.8 million. As a consequence, the EBITDA margin was down to 8.3 percent and is therefore significantly lower ...