MOSCOW (MRC0 -- AdvanSix today reported a third-quarter net loss of about USD700,000, compared with a net profit of USD7.9 million in the year-ago quarter. Net sales fell 9% year on year (YOY), to USD281.9 million, reported Chemweek.
Adjusted earnings amounted to a 2 cents/share loss, ahead of analysts’ consensus estimate of a 5 cents/share loss, as reported by Refinitiv (New York, New York). Volumes increased 5% YOY, but this was more than offset by a 13% decline in volumes.
“Our diverse product portfolio and global low-cost position continue to serve us well as we navigate through the current environment,” says Erin Kane, president and CEO of AdvanSix. “We have seen nylon volume returning to pre-COVID(-19) levels and we continue to optimize our mix across end uses, applications and geographies through the recovery. The performance of the remainder of our portfolio, including ammonium sulfate, acetone and other high-value intermediates, remains resilient complementing ongoing benefits from our focused cost management and high-return capital investments."
As MRC wrote before, in October 2016, Honeywell International Inc.'s shareholders received a stake in AdvanSix, as part of Honeywell's spinoff of the USD1.3 billion resins and chemicals business. The New Jersey-based industrial conglomerate, best known as a maker of thermostats, has been expanding its industrial software business. Under the terms of the dividend tied to the AvanSix spinoff, Honeywell shareholders of record as of 5 p.m. ET on Sept. 16 received 25 AdvanSix shares on Oct. 1, 2016.
We remind that AdvanSix, a new resin and chemical division of Honeywell, completed a planned turnaround at its phenol and acetone plant in Frankford, PA, USA. The maintenance works at the plant with a capacity of 1.1 billion pounds of phenol per year (about 500,000 tons per year) and 608 million pounds of acetone per year (308,400 tons per year) began at the end of March 2017 and was expected to take 2 -3 weeks. This plant is the third largest producer of phenol and acetone in North America. AdvanSix uses cumene derived from benzene and propylene to produce phenol and acetone.
Phenol is the main feedstock component for the production of bisphenol A (BPA), which, in its turn, is used to produce polycarbonate (PC).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PC granules (excluding imports and exports to/from Belarus) rose in the first three quarters of 2020 by 32% year on year to 75,600 tonnes (57,200 tonnes a year earlier).
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