Solvay Q4 results fell more than 3.5%

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay’s stock fell more than 3.5% after poor fourth-quarter earnings, said the company.

Underlying EBITDA was stable over the year, in line with expectations. Positive forex impact offset a modest decrease on an organic basis.

Double digit volume growth in Composite Materials, higher pricing in Performance Chemicals and strong focus on cost discipline helped mitigate demand headwinds in the automotive, electronics and oil & gas markets throughout the year.

Underlying EBITDA margin maintained at 23% for 2019, reflecting the resilience of Solvay's businesses in a challenging market environment.

Strong demand for composites from aerospace customers contributed to delivery of a record performance in 2019, despite an anticipated slowdown in the fourth quarter due to reduced 737MAX build rates.

Specialty Polymers significantly impacted by market headwinds, particularly in automotive and electronics; despite headwinds, maintained leading position across all key markets.

Resilient performance in coatings, agro, personal care, flavors and fragrances offset by softer mining environment and increasingly challenging conditions in the oil & gas market.
Cost measures partly mitigated the impact of lower volumes.

In a supportive market environment, higher prices were achieved in soda ash and peroxide leading to a strong full year performance.
Solvay's Advanced Materials division was hurt by the current slowdown in the automotive industry as well as the ongoing crisis at US aviation major Boeing and the production halt for its 747MAX aircraft.

The company's Advanced Formulations division was the worst performer and took the biggest hit following a slow down in the downstream mining and oil and gas sectors.

The equity analysts for chemicals at Germany’s Baader Bank said Solvay’s commodity chemicals business had “surprised positively” in 2019, but warned that its good performance may come to an end by next year.

“Earnings mix worse at second glance... As we fear that the earnings (and in particular FCF [free cash flow]) power of Performance Chemicals might fade (due to coming capacities in H2 2021). We are sceptical on the sustainable earnings run rate of this division,” said Baader.

As it was written earlier, Solvay introduced Solef polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) AM filament. This new material is intended for fused filament fabrication (FFF) methods. It can be obtained on Ultimaker's market to allow optimized 3D printing on Ultimaker printers. Solef PVDF AM filament MSC NT 1 delivers long-term performance of as much as 120 degC, including outstanding chemical resistance and exceptional UV, oxidation and weathering resistance.

Solvay is an advanced materials and specialty chemicals company, committed to developing chemistry that addresses key societal challenges. Solvay innovates and partners with customers worldwide in many diverse end-markets. Its products are used in planes, cars, batteries, smart and medical devices, as well as in mineral and oil and gas extraction, enhancing efficiency and sustainability. Its lightweighting materials promote cleaner mobility, its formulations optimize the use of resources, and its performance chemicals improve air and water quality. Solvay is headquartered in Brussels with around 24,500 employees in 61 countries. Net sales were EUR10.3 billion in 2018, with 90% from activities where Solvay ranks among the world’s top 3 leaders, resulting in an EBITDA margin of 22%.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Linde announced it has started up a new Air Separation Unit (ASU) effectively doubling the production capacity of its existing plant at Mims, Florida, reported Kemicalinfo.

"The expansion is in response to rapidly growing contracted demand for space launch activity," the company said in its statement.

The new plant will increase production to more than 500 tons per day. The plant will also meet growing demand from healthcare, manufacturing, food processing and water treatment customers in the area.

"We are seeing a notable increase in demand for our products, not just from aerospace, but across the board. The increased production capacity of our merchant atmospheric gases will enable us to better support our growth in the region," said Todd Lawson, Vice President East Linde Gases US

Linde worked closely during project planning and execution with Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), the largest energy company in the United States as measured by retail electricity produced and sold, and a leading clean energy company.

As MRC informed before, in H1 February 2020, Linde PLC commissioned a new air separation unit (ASU) in Freeport, Texas, as part of a long-term agreement to supply MEGlobal Americas Inc.’s new monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant at Oyster Creek petrochemical complex in Freeport. The new ASU will supply oxygen and nitrogen to MEGlobal Oyster Creek for use in its MEG manufacturing process. The ASU also will supply Linde’s industrial gas pipeline system, adding new argon capacity, Linde said.

We remind that MEGlobal Americas officially began production at its 750,000 ton per year MEG plant in October last year to meet the growing demand for ethylene glycol products in the US and Asia-Pacific markets, as well as its strategy to expand globally.

MEG is one of the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated consumption of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Russia decreased by 16% year on year in December 2019. Russia's overall estimated PET consumption totalled 696,810 tonnes in 2019, up by 1% year on year (690,130 tonnes in 2018).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Exxon Mobil Corp restarted the largest crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 502,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery for the first time since a Feb. 12 fire, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

Exxon began restarting the second-largest CDU at the Baton Rouge refinery on Monday, the sources said. The Feb. 12 fire knocked out the natural gas supply that fuels the boilers on the refinery’s four CDUs.

As MRC informed before, in September 2019, ExxonMobil announced plans to spend GBP140 million over the next two years in an additional investment program at its Fife ethylene plant, which has a capacity of more than 800,000 t/y.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Exxon Mobil Corp plans to begin restarting its 502,500 barrel-per-day Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery as early as Friday with the largest crude distillation unit (CDU), said sources familiar with plant operations, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The 210,000 bpd PSLA-10 CDU has been shut along with most units at the refinery since a Feb. 12 natural gas pipeline fire, the sources said. The pipeline supplied natural gas to the refinery’s four CDUs.

The CDUs do the primary breakdown of crude oil into the hydrocarbon feedstocks, from which motor fuels like gasoline and diesel and plastics are made in other production units at the refinery. Restarting PSLA 10 has been a top goal with for Exxon since the fire, the sources said. Restart efforts depend on restoring the natural gas feed to the unit.

As MRC informed before, in September 2019, ExxonMobil announced plans to spend GBP140 million over the next two years in an additional investment program at its Fife ethylene plant, which has a capacity of more than 800,000 t/y.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Last year's imports of expandable polystyrene (EPS) into Kazakhstan grew by 10% year on year, totalling 7,310 tonnes, according to MRC's DataScope report.

December 2019 EPS imports into the country rose by 37% year on year to 525 tonnes from 383 tonnes a year earlier. Imports of material to Kazakhstan were 537 tonnes in November 2019.

Russia and China were the main importing countries of EPS to Kazakhstan.

Thus, imports of Russian material to the Kazakh market fell in 2019 by 17% year on year: from 5,990 tonnes in January-December 2018 to 4,960 tonnes. Last year's share of EPS imports from Russia in the total shipments to the country slumped to 68% from 90% a year earlier.

December 2019 shipments of Russian EPS to Kazakhstan were 285 tonnes versus 467 tonnes in November, whereas imports of material were 313 tonnes in December 2018.

And shipments of Chinese material almost quadrupled last year: from 610 tonnes to 2,290 tonnes. The share of Chinese companies in the overall EPS imports to the country grew sharply in 2019 to 31% from 9% a year earlier.

December 2019 EPS shipments from China to Kazakhstan grew significantly to 240 tonnes from 69 tonnes a month earlier, whereas imports of Chinese material were 70 tonnes in December 2018.

MRC