Synthomer shares tank after profit slump in 2022, warns of subdued demand

Shares of Synthomer Plc plunged about 14% on Tuesday after the British polymer maker reported a slump in 2022 core profit and said demand remained subdued thus far into the year, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The coatings and constructions solutions maker halved its total annual core profit, including recent disposals, to USD325.9 MM but in line with its forecast in January.

The year-to-date trading remained challenging, the company said, adding that it does not see any improvement this year to current high levels of destocking and low production of nitrile butadiene rubber used to make gloves.

Synthomer said it expects to emerge from the subdued level of demand in the second half of this year, although visibility is currently limited.

Shares plunged as much as 19% to an over-five-month low of 100p in morning trading.

Synthomer had in December agreed to divest its laminates, films and coated fabrics businesses for USD267 MM to Surteco North America.

We remind, Synthomer has agreed to sell its Laminates, Films and Coated Fabrics businesses to Surteco North America for a total enterprise value of about USD255m. The divestment is in line with Synthomer’s plans to increase the weighting of specialty chemicals versus base chemicals in its portfolio and create a more balanced geographic exposure, it said. The Laminates, Films and Coated Fabrics businesses, with plants in North America and Thailand, were part of Synthomer’s acquisition of OMNOVA Solutions in 2020.

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Norwegian fertilizer maker Yara and Canadian pipeline company Enbridge plan to invest up to USD2.9 bn to build a low-carbon blue ammonia production plant in Texas, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Blue ammonia, rather than green ammonia derived from renewable energy, refers to ammonia produced from natural gas, with the carbon dioxide (CO2) byproduct captured and stored. The plant, which would be Yara's biggest, would be built at an Enbridge oil storage and export facility near Corpus Christi, with production to start around 2027-28.

The companies have not yet made final investment decisions. Yara is the latest European company to announce a major investment in the United States. More than 200 low-carbon ammonia facilities are being planned globally and the U.S. Gulf Coast is becoming a major hub due to existing infrastructure, cheap natural gas and high government subsidies, said Alexander Derricott, senior analyst at consultancy CRU.

The number of projects that actually proceed depends largely on how much of a premium buyers of low-emission ammonia are willing to pay for the costlier production, Derricott said. While the project was planned long before last year's U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the increase in carbon storage tax credits in that law made it more attractive, Yara said.

"We've focused on the United States for two reasons and the first is low energy prices, naturally, and the other is that carbon capture is accessible at an attractive cost," Magnus Krogh Ankarstrand, president of the Yara Clean Ammonia subsidiary, told Reuters.

Yara intends to buy all of the plant's output for feedstock in its global production system, including Europe, as well as for new clean ammonia markets such as shipping fuel. The plant will supply 1.2 million to 1.4 million tons of low-carbon ammonia per year.

We remind, Yara underline its commitment to sustainability. The eligible green projects are expected to create substantial environmental benefits by decarbonizing the food chain, including fertilizer production and application, and limiting the need to expand farmland. CICERO has provided the second party opinion and rated the framework medium-green. The company does not have specific debt ratio targets, but aim at having a medium investment grade credit rating.

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To help customers fulfill the highest standards of safety and regulatory compliance, as well as ease ingredient selection, Clariant has launched a new package for the coatings sector that assists in the research of additives compliant with the most relevant food contact regulations, said the company.

There are three key complementary elements to the new package, ensuring different views and areas of focus, providing a holistic approach with easy access to information in one place. It includes an interactive selection tool, an overview table, and food contact reports with detailed regulatory information such as Substance Migration Limits (SMLs).

The interactive tool allows customers to select most relevant regulations and find compliant additive products out of the Clariant portfolio. These search results link directly to individual product pages that also give access to food contact reports with comprehensive details on each additive. In addition, a downloadable selection guide is available to offer users a standardized solution where all screened products and regulations are shown in a table format.

“Safety and regulatory compliance are important criteria when you choose ingredients and at Clariant we want to give you the confidence to select our products when it comes to food contact applications,” said Sebastian Prock, Clariant’s Head of Global Marketing Industrial Applications. "Thanks to our new interactive selection tool and the three complementary elements of our package, customers have easy access to our product portfolio fulfilling regulatory needs,” he continued.

We remind, Clariant Catalysts has collaborated with Evonik and thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (tkIS) for a propylene oxide (PO) project in China. Qixiang Tengda will depend on Evonik-tkIS HPPO technology to transform propylene into PO, in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. The new plant will have a capacity of 300,000 tonnes/y.

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A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between HPCL Mumbai Refinery and BPCL Mumbai Refinery as part of synergy through Purchase and Sale of Hydrogen at a signing ceremony held recently, said Polymerupdate.

Hydrogen is an essential utility required for Hydro treating / Hydro processing of HSD and MS streams to produce HSD and MS specifications as per Bharat Stage VI norms and is vital for reliable and safe refinery operations.

This MoU is one-of-a-kind strategic partnership between two OMCs as a part of synergy for mutual aid during emergencies and towards environmental impact by minimizing valuable hydrogen flaring. This initiative envisages cooperation and collaboration as part of synergy in the areas of hydrogen exchange between both Refineries for sustained refinery operations and uninterrupted product availability.

The MoU was signed by Shri Vijay S Agashe, Executive Director - HPCL Mumbai Refinery and Shri Subramoni Iyer, Executive Director - BPCL Mumbai Refinery, in presence of senior Officials from HPCL and BPCL Refineries.

We remind, Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) plans to start its 9-MMtpy Barmer refinery and petrochemical project in Rajasthan state by January 2024. India, the third biggest oil importer, is expanding refining capacity to meet rising demand for fuel and petrochemical to power economic expansion. India's per capita petrochemical consumption is about a third of the global average.

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Toyobo Co., Ltd. has been selected as a Supplier Engagement Leader – the highest ranking – in CDP’s1 Supplier Engagement Rating assessment for the second consecutive year. CDP is a British not-for-profit organization that runs a global disclosure system on supply chain environmental impacts, said Polymerupdate.

CDP’s Supplier Engagement Rating assessment evaluates a company’s engagement with itssupply chain on climate change issues, based on its answers to a questionnaire on governance, targets, scope 3 emissions*2 and supply chain engagement. In 2022, CDP selected the top eight percent of 653 companies, including 131 Japanese firms, as Supplier Engagement Leaders.

Toyobo believes CDP highly evaluated its endeavors in partnership with suppliers and clients to reduce environmental impacts and promote resource circulation in the entire corporate supply chain. Toyobo is making these efforts based on the Toyobo Group Fundamental Policy on the Global Environment and CSR Procurement Guidelines.

Recognizing climate change as a major risk to its business operations, the Toyobo Group will spearhead undertakings to address climate change together with its stakeholders. Also, as stated in Sustainable Vision 2030*3, its long-term vision unveiled on May 26, 2022, the group commits itself to contributing to realizing a “decarbonized and circular society” throughout the corporate supply chain by providing its own products and solutions.

We remind, Toyobo Co., Ltd. has agreed to set up a joint venture firm to produce yarns for automobile airbags with Bangkok-based Indorama Polyester Industries PCL (IPI), which is under the umbrella of the world’s largest polyethylene terephthalate (PET) producer, Indorama Ventures PCL (IVL), as per Toyobo's press release.
The joint company plans to build a new plant on the IPI factory site in Rayong Province, Thailand, and start operations in 1st Quarter of 2022.

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