US PolyOne reports Q4 loss of USD14.6 million

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PolyOne Corp. (POL) reported a fourth-quarter loss of USD14.6 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier, said the company in its press release.

The Avon Lake, Ohio-based company said it had a loss of 16 cents per share. Losses, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 52 cents per share.

The results missed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 34 cents per share.

The maker of resins used in plastic pipe and other products posted revenue of USD869.3 million in the period, which also fell short of Street forecasts. Analysts expected USD903.2 million, according to Zacks.

For the year, the company reported profit of USD79.2 million, or 85 cents per share. Revenue was reported as USD3.84 billion.

PolyOne shares have dropped roughly 5 percent since the beginning of the year.

As MRC informed earlier, in February 2014, PolyOne Corporation announced the addition of new capabilities to its OnColor HC Plus portfolio. These expanded offerings add medical-grade LDPE, nylon, PEBA, PS and PVC to the globally available palette of specialty healthcare colorants, and are pre-certified to meet or exceed biocompatibility requirements for ISO 10993 and/or USP Class VI protocols.

PolyOne Corporation, with 2013 revenues of USD3.8 billion, is a global provider of specialized polymer materials, services, and solutions. PolyOne is a provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions with operations in specialty polymer formulations, color and additive systems, polymer distribution and specialty vinyl resins.
MRC

Russian producers raise PET prices

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian plants raised their spot prices for bottle grade PET chips by Rb2,000-3,000/tonne, including VAT, this week on the back of higher prices of imported material, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The spread of spot prices of Russian polyethylene terephthalate (PET) were announced to customers at Rb77,000-80,700/tonne CPT the central region. PET offer prices from plants' warehouses were at Rb77,000-78,500/tonne EXW, including VAT.

Despite the fact that PET prices in foreign currencies (US dollar and euro) have been falling in foreign markets, prices of imported European and Asian PET chips, including delivery to Russia, were much higher than the same grades of domestic material. The depreciation of the national currency was the reason for higher purchase prices of material.


According to MRC data, January PET quantities have been entering the market at USD1,080-1,180/tonne CIF Novorossiysk, excluding VAT. After the payment to the supplier at the current market exchange rate of the rouble as of 01/27/2015 (about Rb68 per USD1), payment of VAT and customs duty, prices will be at Rb90,100-98,500/tonne, excluding delivery to a converter's warehouse. At the same time, such quantities of material were scarce. Russian consumers significantly reduced their purchasing of material for January shipments on the back of the rouble devaluation and high inventories of finished goods in late 2014.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, import prices of Chinese PET grades, including delivery to Novorossiysk, were at USD935-1,000/tonne CIF, excluding VAT. Import prices of Asian material were at USD890-930/tonne CIF port Vostochny.

MRC

Ethylene production in Russia dropped by 10.6% in 2014

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Last year's overall ethylene production in Russia decreased by 10.6% to 2.4 million tonnes. The reduced production was caused by a prolonged outage at Stavrolen, reported MRC analysts.

According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, Russian plants produced 229,000 tonnes of ethylene in December, whereas this figure totalled about 221,000 tonnes in November. Thus, the total ethylene production fell to 2.4 million tonnes in 2014 versus 2.67 million tonnes a year earlier.

The main reason for lower ethylene production of Russian plants was the forced long shutdown at Stavrolen. We remind that the Budenovsk plant was forced to shut down its ethylene production with the annual capacity of 300,000 tonnes on on 26 February 2014 because of an accident.

Other Russian producers, on the contrary, increased their output of ethylene. Angarsk Polymer Plant accounted for the greatest increase in production. Nevertheless, the growth of capacity utilisation at other plants did not allowe to fully offset the outage at Stavrolen.
MRC

DuPont posts suprise sales drop on prices, currency

MOSCOW (MRC) -- DuPont Co., the chemicals company facing a proxy contest with activist shareholder Trian Fund Management LP, posted an unexpected drop in fourth-quarter sales and forecast 2015 earnings that trailed analysts’ estimates, said Bloomberg.

Revenue fell to USD7.38 billion from USD7.75 billion, Wilmington, Delaware-based DuPont said in a statement Tuesday, compared with the USD7.79 billion average of 12 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Profit excluding some items was 71 cents a share, matching the average estimate.

Average prices fell in every business segment, led by an 8 percent decline in the agriculture business, where lower grain prices reduced farmer spending on corn seeds in Brazil. Foreign exchange reduced companywide sales by 3 percent, DuPont said.

Agriculture companies "continue to be negatively impacted by falling corn prices in the fourth quarter," David Begleiter, a New York-based analyst at Deutsche Bank AG who recommends buying the shares, said in a Jan. 16 note.

For 2015, the company said operating earnings will be as much as USD4.20 a share, trailing the USD4.44 average estimate. Profit this year will be cut by 60 cents a share because of the impact of the stronger dollar, it said.

The company also said it’s expanding its cost-cutting plan to USD1.3 billion by the end of 2017. It previosuly sought USD1 billion of savings through 2019. Dividends received by DuPont from Chemours, the performance-chemicals business it plans to spin off later this year, will be returned to shareholders via stock buybacks. The proceeds will be about USD4 billion, DuPont said.

The weaker-than-expected quarterly sales and 2015 forecast may hurt efforts by DuPont Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ellen Kullman to defend against Trian’s campaign to seek four board seats. Trian has criticized Kullman’s failure to reach her goal of 12 percent annual earnings growth for three straight years and it argues that the 212-year-old company should be broken up.

Trian, which is based in New York, held a 2.7 percent stake in DuPont at the end of last year, and says the company can cut USD4 billion in costs. While DuPont already plans to spin off Chemours, Trian advocates the rest of the company be split in two. One part would include the faster-growing agriculture and nutrition units and another would encompass more cyclical businesses.

Kullman’s choice to fight Trian, saying shareholder returns outpaced major stock indexes since she became CEO in 2009, contrasts with industry peers Dow Chemical Co. and Air Products & Chemicals Inc., who have decided to work with activists.

At the same time, she has already implemented some of the recommendations made by Trian, including the sale of the DuPont Theater in Wilmington.

DuPont shareholders will vote to select the board at the company’s annual meeting in April.

DuPont is an American chemical company that was founded in July, 1802. The company manufactures a wide range of chemical products, leading extensive innovative research in this field. The company is the inventor of many unique plastics and other materials, including neoprene, nylon, Teflon, Kevlar, Mylar, Tyvek, etc. DuPont was the developer and main producer of Freon used in the production of refrigeration equipment.
MRC

LG Chem to shut SM plant in South Korea for maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korean petrochemical company LG Chem is likely to shut a styrene monomer (SM) plant for maintenance turnaround, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in South Korea informed that the plant is likely to be shut in March 2015. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.

Located in Daesan, South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 180,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, LG Chem last shut this SM plant for maintenance turnaround on March 23, 2014. It remained off-stream for around two weeks.

We also remind that LG Chem is planning to build an ethylene production plant in Atyrau, Kazakhstan. The project is going to be constructed in collaboration with two other Kazakh firms. The production is expected to begin in late 2016.

LG Chem Ltd., often referred to as LG Chemical, is the largest Korean chemical company and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. According to ICIS report, it is 15th biggest chemical company in the world in 2011. It has eight domestic factories and global network of 29 business locations in 15 countries. LG Chem is a manufacturer, supplier, and exporter of petrochemical goods, IT&E Materials and Energy Solutions.
MRC