Ecolab, Inc. (ECL) Dividends

Ecolab Inc., incorporated on February 18, 1924, provides water, hygiene and energy technologies and services. The Company's cleaning and sanitizing programs and products, pest elimination services and equipment maintenance and repair services support customers in the foodservice, food and beverage processing, hospitality, healthcare, government and education, retail, textile care and commercial facilities management sectors in over 170 countries. The Company's segments include Global Industrial, Global Institutional, Global Energy, Other and Corporate. Its products and technologies are also used in water treatment, pollution control, energy conservation, oil production and refining, steelmaking, papermaking, mining, and other industrial processes.

Global Industrial

The Global Industrial segment consists of the Water, Food and Beverage, Paper and Textile Care operating units. It provides water treatment and process applications, and cleaning and sanitizing solutions to industrial customers within the manufacturing, food and beverage processing, chemical, mining and primary metals, power generation, pulp and paper, and commercial laundry industries. The Company's Water business serves customers across industrial and institutional markets. Within Water business, the Company serves customers in the aerospace, chemical, pharmaceutical, mining and primary metals, power, food and beverage, and medium and light manufacturing, as well as institutional clients, such as hospitals, universities, commercial buildings and hotels. Its offerings include specialty products, such as scale and corrosion inhibitors, antifoulants, pre-treatment solutions, membrane treatments, coagulants and flocculants, and anti-foams, as well as the Company's three dimensional (3D) TRASAR technology, which combines chemistry, remote services, and monitoring and control.

The Company's Water business provides water treatment products and programs for cooling water, boiler water, process water and waste water applications. Its cooling water treatment programs are designed to control the problems associated with cooling water systems, such as corrosion, scale and microbial fouling and contamination, in open recirculating, once-through and closed systems. The Company provides chemical solutions, process improvements and mechanical component modifications to optimize boiler performance, control corrosion and scale build-up. The Company's Food and beverage business provides detergents, cleaners, sanitizers, lubricants and animal health products, as well as cleaning systems, electronic dispensers and chemical injectors for the application of chemical products, primarily to dairy plants, dairy farms, breweries, soft-drink bottling plants, and meat, poultry and other food processors. Food and beverage is also a developer and marketer of antimicrobial products used in direct contact with meat, poultry, seafood and produce during processing in order to reduce microbial contamination. Food and beverage also designs, engineers and installs clean-in-place (CIP) process control systems and facility cleaning systems for its customer base.

The Company's paper business provides water and process applications for the pulp and paper industries. The paper business offers a portfolio of programs that are used in various steps of the papermaking process and across various grades of paper, including graphic grades, board and packaging, and tissue and towel. Paper provides over two additional specialty programs, such as pulp applications and paper applications. The pulp applications predict and monitor scaling potential utilizing online monitoring to design the treatment programs. Specialty products include flocculants, coagulants, dewatering aids and digester yield enhancers. The Company's textile care business provides products and services that manage the entire wash process through custom designed programs, products, dispensing equipment, water and energy management, and real time data management, commercial operations, including uniform rental, hospitality, linen rental and healthcare laundries.

Global Institutional

The Global Institutional segment consists of the Institutional, Specialty and Healthcare operating units. It provides specialized cleaning and sanitizing products to the foodservice, hospitality, lodging, healthcare, government, education and retail industries. The Company's institutional business sells cleaners and sanitizers for washing dishes, glassware, flatware, foodservice utensils and kitchen equipment (warewashing), plus cleaners for various applications throughout food service operations; for on premise laundries, and for general housekeeping functions, as well as food safety products and equipment, water filters, dishwasher racks and related kitchen sundries to the foodservice, lodging, educational and healthcare industries. It also provides pool and spa treatment programs for hospitality and other commercial customers, as well as a range of janitorial cleaning and floor care products and programs to customers in hospitality, healthcare and commercial facilities. Institutional develops various chemical dispensing systems to dispense the cleaners and sanitizers. In addition, the Institutional operating unit markets a lease program consisting of dishwashing machines, detergents, rinse additives and sanitizers, including full machine maintenance. Through its EcoSure Food Safety Management business, Institutional also provides customized on-site evaluations, training and quality assurance services to foodservice operations.

The Company's specialty operating unit supplies cleaning and sanitizing chemical products and related items primarily to regional, national and international quick service restaurant (QSR) chains, and food retailers. Its products include hard surface cleaners, degreasers, sanitizers, polishes, hand care products and assorted cleaning tools and equipment, which are sold under the Kay and Ecolab brand names. A number of product dispensing options are available for products in the core product range. Customers in the QSR market segment are primarily supplied through third party distributors while food retail customers utilize their own distribution networks. The healthcare business provides infection prevention, surgical solutions and contamination control solutions to acute care hospitals, surgery centers, medical device original equipment manufacturers (OEM), and pharmaceutical and hospital clean room environments. Healthcare's infection prevention and surgical solutions, such as hand hygiene, hard surface disinfection, instrument cleaning, patient drapes, equipment drapes and surgical fluid warming and cooling systems are sold primarily under the Ecolab and Microtek brand names to various departments within the acute care environment, including infection control, environmental services, central sterile and operating room. Healthcare sells its products and programs primarily through field sales personnel and corporate account personnel but also sells through healthcare distributors.

Global Energy

The Global Energy segment, which operates primarily under the Nalco Champion name, consists of the Energy operating unit, which serves the process chemicals and water treatment needs of the global petroleum and petrochemical industries in both upstream and downstream applications. The Global Energy segment provides on-site and technology-driven solutions to the global drilling, oil and gas production, refining, and petrochemical industries. Its product and service portfolio includes corrosion inhibitors, scale control additives, biocides, cleaners, hydrate control, hydrogen sulfide scavengers, oil dispersants, asphaltene and paraffin control, foamers and anti-foams, flow assurance, oil/water separation, heavy crude desalting, monomer inhibitors, anti-oxidants, fuel and lubricant additives, air emission control and combustion efficiency, and traditional water treatment. The Company's customers include various oil companies, as well as national oil companies and independent oil companies. The Energy business operates an upstream group consisting of its WellChem and Oilfield Chemicals and Enhanced Oil Recovery businesses. The Company's WellChem business supplies chemicals for the cementing, drilling, fracturing and acidizing phases of well drilling and stimulation. Its Oilfield Chemicals business provides solutions to the oil and gas production sector. The Company engages in crude oil and natural gas production, pipeline gathering/transmission systems, gas processing, heavy oil and bitumen upgrading and enhanced oil recovery. Its UltraFab business designs, fabricates and commissions compact, modular and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) mitigation systems.

The Company offers a line of fuel additives, including corrosion inhibitors, to protect engine fuel systems and pre-market underground storage tanks and piping. In addition, it offers fuel stabilizers, pour point depressants, detergents and antioxidants for home heating oil and diesel and gasoline packages. The Company also provides total water and wastewater management solutions specific to customers' refining and chemical processing needs, including boiler treatment, cooling water treatment and wastewater treatment.

Other

The Other segment consists of the Pest Elimination operating unit. It provides pest elimination and kitchen repair and maintenance, with its operating units. Pest elimination provides services designed to detect, eliminate and prevent pests, such as rodents and insects, in restaurants, food and beverage processors, educational and healthcare facilities, hotels, restaurant and grocery operations and other institutional and commercial customers. In addition to the United States, the Company operates this business in various countries in Asia Pacific, Western Europe, Latin America and South Africa, France, the United Kingdom, Greater China and Mexico.