Huntsman Q3 earnings improve on product demand

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Huntsman Corp. on posted higher earnings in its third quarter, boosted by strong demand for products such as environmentally-friendly textile dyes and aerospace composites, said the Wall Street Journal.

The maker of insulation, pigments and coatings has recently posted stronger sales following more than a year of declines. Huntsman also has aimed to refocus on key markets and reduce costs to boost its performance.

Earlier this month, Huntsman closed on its USD1.1 billion acquisition of Rockwood Holdings Inc. ’s performance additives and titanium dioxide businesses. Chief Executive Peter R. Huntsman said that the acquisition is expected to add 70 cents to the company’s per-share earnings by mid-2016.

Overall, Huntsman reported a profit of USD188 million, or 76 cents a share, up from USD64 million, or 26 cents a share, a year earlier. Earnings in the quarter included a USD40 million income tax benefit, while prior-year earnings included an USD81 million income tax charge.

Excluding pension-related impacts, restructuring charges and other items, adjusted earnings improved to 60 cents from 54 cents a year earlier.

Revenue edged up 1.5% to USD2.88 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of 53 cents and revenue of USD2.91 billion.

Revenue in Huntsman’s textiles division jumped 12% in the quarter, while revenue in its polyurethanes division edged up 1%. Performance products revenue fell 2%.

Huntsman Corporation is a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated chemicals with 2013 revenues of over USD11 billion. Huntsman is a global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated chemicals. The company's operating companies manufacture products for a variety of global industries, including chemicals, plastics, automotive, aviation, textiles, footwear, paints and coatings, construction, technology, agriculture, health care, detergent, personal care, furniture, appliances and packaging.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), one of the world's largest petrochemicals groups and the Gulf's largest listed company, reported a 4.5 percent drop in third-quarter net income on Sunday, missing analysts' forecasts, said Reuters.

It earned 6.18 billion riyals (USD1.65 billion) in the quarter, compared to 6.47 billion riyals in the year-earlier period, SABIC reported in a bourse statement.

SABIC, which is 70 percent state-owned, attributed the fall in profits to a drop in sales and other income, although its cost of financing was lower.

Earnings were below the average forecast of nine analysts polled by Reuters, who had predicted a quarterly profit of 6.63 billion riyals.

The company's results are closely tied to global economic growth because its products - plastics, fertilisers and metals - are used extensively in construction, agriculture, industry and the manufacturing of consumer goods.

SABIC chief executive Mohamed al-Mady said in July that the outlook for petrochemical demand over the next three years was positive and there was room for prices to rise.

As MRC wrote before, SABIC and Royal Dutch Shell have shelved plans to expand an existing petrochemical joint venture in Saudi Arabia as the results of feasibility studies were not encouraging. The two partners in the joint project, known as SADAF joint venture in Jubail, on the Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia, first announced plans to explore an expansion of their petrochemical plant in 2012.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) ranks among the world’s top petrochemical companies. The company is among the world’s market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wintershall (part of BASF), Germany’s largest internationally active crude oil and natural gas producer, has closed sale of VNG shares to EWE. The transaction closure means EWE Aktiengesellschaft takes over the 15.79% share of Wintershall Holding GmbH in the East German company Verbundnetz Gas AG (VNG), reported BASF on its site.

The competition authorities, the boards of both companies and the VNG shareholders’ meeting had previously approved the transaction. The transaction will be executed with payment of the purchase price of EUR320 million and will be financially effective retroactively to January 1, 2014. Wintershall and EWE already agreed on the sale in March 2014.

Wintershall is increasingly concentrating on the upstream sector and is therefore divesting its own natural gas trading and storage business. The handover of the VNG shares is part of this strategy. In 2015 Wintershall intends to expand its global oil and gas production to 160 million barrels of oil equivalent. This represents an increase in production of more than half within one decade.

As MRC wrote before, in late 2013, Wintershall Holding announced that it would sell some non-operated assets in the North Sea to Hungary's MOL group (MGYOY) to focus on its own exploration and production activities in the region. The transaction garnered USD375 million for Wintershall and the deal was closed in the first quarter of 2014, pending regulatory approval.

Wintershall Holding GmbH, based in Kassel, Germany, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BASF in Ludwigshafen. The company has been active in the extraction of natural resources for 120 years, and in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas for over 80 years. Wintershall focuses on selected core regions where the company has built up a high level of regional and technological expertise. These are Europe, Russia, North Africa, South America, and increasingly the Middle East region.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Westlake Chemical Corporation, the US plastics maker controlled by the billionaire Chao family, has announced that it held a dedication ceremony to celebrate the expansion of its Calvert City, Kentucky Vinyls Complex, as per the company's press release.

This ceremony was attended by The Honorable Steve Beshear, Governor of Kentucky, James Chao, Chairman of the Board of Westlake Chemical and Albert Chao, President and CEO of Westlake Chemical. They were joined by various state and local officials, local industry guests and executives and employees of the company.

"We have enjoyed a long and rewarding relationship with Kentucky, operating since 1990 in Calvert City," said Westlake Chemicals President and CEO Albert Chao. "Our Kentucky operations are a vital hub for our enterprise and over the years, we have invested approximately USD1 billion at Calvert City."

Westlake Chemical has spent in excess of USD300 million into the overall expansion project. This investment included expanding ethylene production capacity and converting its feedstock from propane to ethane to leverage low cost ethane being developed in regional shale gas areas. Additionally, PVC resin capacity was increased to meet the growing demands of global customers.

Westlake Chemical's Calvert City facility employs approximately 400 employees along with 150 core contractors and has been in operation for nearly 25 years.

We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, in May 2014, Westlake Chemical Corp. separated its ethylene assets into a tax-advantaged venture in which it plans to sell shares to the public. The master-limited partnership (MLP) includes three US ethylene plants and a 200-mile (322-km) ethylene pipeline. Ethylene, the most common petrochemical, is used to make products from plastic bottles to autoparts and pipe.

Westlake Chemical Corporation is a manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals, polymers and building products with headquarters in Houston, Texas. The company's range of products includes: ethylene, polyethylene, styrene, propylene, caustic, VCM, PVC resin and PVC building products including pipe and specialty components, windows and fence.
mrcpalst.com

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sahara Petrochemical Co. made SAR 17.1 million net earnings in the third quarter of 2014, plunging 88.48% y/y from SAR 148.4 million and 90.76% q/q from SAR 185 million, said 4-traders.

The nine-month net profit fell 24.59% to SAR 302 million, compared with SAR 400.5 million in the year-ago period.

The company ascribed the fall in profit to the decline in production and sales due to the planned shutdown of Saudi Ethylene & Polyethylene Co. (associate company) which lasted for 24 days as announced earlier, also the emergency shutdown of Al Waha plant (an affiliate company) as announced earlier. In addition, the reason of the decrease in Q3 profit y/y was the decline of production and prices of products of companies that entered to commercial operation phase recently. The companies are: Saudi Acrylic Acid plant (SAAC) and Sahara and Maaden Petrochemical Company

As MRC wrote before, Sahara Petrochemical Co., the Saudi Arabia-based firm which announced plans to merge with Saudi International Petrochemical Co. (Sipchem), has earned net profit of SR578.7 million in 2013, registering a growth of 183% compared to net profit of SR204.4 million in 2012.

Sahara Petrochemical is involved in building and operating petrochemical projects, especially propylene, polypropylene, ethylene and mixed polyethylene industries.

MRC