MOSCOW (MRC) -- Styrolution, the global leader in styrenics, has reported its annual revenues of EUR5.8 billion and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) before special items of EUR442 million, as per the company's report.
The EBITDA exceeds any other year in the history of Styrolution and its heritage styrenic businesses. A key contributor to Styrolution's strong showing in 2013 was the company's synergy and integration program, strong styrene monomer and polystyrene margins and an improved specialties business.
Since Styrolution was established in 2011, the economy was affected by persisting slow growth globally. In spite of the challenges presented by these market conditions, Styrolution has achieved record results in 2013, also topping the results of its heritage styrenics businesses.
Throughout the year, Styrolution benefitted from increased margins in styrene monomer, the key feedstock in the production of styrenic polymers. The margin increase was mainly driven by tightened supply and demand fundamentals. Polystyrene was also a strong contributor to EBITDA due to margin improvement on the back of an optimized customer and product portfolio structure, especially in the Americas.
Lower fixed costs and higher utilization rates in Europe resulted from the closure of the polystyrene plant in Marl, Germany in October 2012. Specialties further contributed to overall profitability with solid margins and higher volumes resulting from increased focus on profitable market segments and applications, as well as optimizations to Styrolution's specialties production infrastructure.
Styrolution does not expect material changes in overall market conditions in 2014 compared to 2013. The company anticipates a modest recovery in the European economy and that the Americas and Asia should grow at comparable rates to 2013. Overall, Styrolution anticipates stable volume demand and margin development in 2014.
In EMEA, the company assumes that the strong polystyrene margins seen in 2013 will decline in 2014; while a modest recovery in ABS margins in Asia, should also lead to a modest increase in ABS margins in EMEA and the Americas. The company expects that the record styrene monomer margins of 2013 will not be repeated in 2014, but anticipates cost improvements as a result of the turnaround of its Texas City asset.
As MRC reported earlier, in order to further strengthen its polystyrene (PS) business in North America, Styrolution has announced it plans to consolidate PS capacity in the region. In addition, Styrolution will accelerate growth in styrenic specialties through an expansion of its offering for high-performance transparent styrenics, by providing local supply in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Part of Styrolution's Triple Shift growth strategy, these measures will further enhance the company's position as the global leader in styrenics.
The Styrolution Group GmbH is a global provider of styrenics , headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. The company is a joint venture between BASF (50%) and INEOS (50%), were merged into the main styrene operations of the two partners. Its main focus is on the production of monomer, polystyrene, styrenic specialties, and ABS. The company offers styrene plastics for a variety of everyday products from different industries, such as automotive, electronics, construction, household, leisure, packaging, medicine and health.
MRC