The Chemours Company (Wilmington, Delaware) reported a fourth-quarter net loss of USD18 million, which included a litigation settlement charge of USD62 mln, said the company.
Adjusted net income was USD46 million. Sales were USD1.4 billion, up 2% year over year, as volumes were up 3%, offset by a 1% decrease in price.
Company earnings were delayed twice due to an internal investigation on the handling of internal ethics hotline complaints as well as practices for managing working capital and related metrics that were tied to executive compensation targets. Three top executives were placed on leave: president and CEO Mark Newman; senior vice president and CFO, Jonathan Lock; and vice president, controller and principal accounting officer, Camela Wisel. Chemours said in a regulatory filing on March 25 that Newman had resigned from the company and its board, effective March 22.
Adjusted earnings per share totaled 31 cents ahead of the analysts’ consensus estimate of 24 cents as compiled by S&P Capital IQ.
“Chemours navigated a challenging year in 2023 that included prolonged destocking in certain key end markets, and these headwinds impacted our overall financial performance,” said new Chemours CEO Denise Dignam. “Our fourth quarter performance reflected continued growth for our low global warming potential refrigerants in our thermal & specialized solutions segment, double-digit growth in the performance solutions portfolio of our advanced performance materials segment, and improved demand for titanium dioxide across most regions in the titanium technologies segment.”
Looking ahead, Chemours expects a 10% sequential decline in titanium technologies sales for the first quarter 2024 due to weaker demand for TiO2 driven by regional seasonality. The company expects the thermals and specialized solutions segment to grow by about 20% sequentially in sales and adjusted EBITDA driven by seasonality and demand for Opteon products. For its advanced performance materials segment, the company sees a sequential decline of 10% for net sales in the first quarter driven by softness in end markets and the tail impact of an extended outage at a manufacturing site; the segment is also nearing its typical cycle lows, and the company expects the business to lag overall market recovery by six to nine months.
Overall, the company expects first quarter 2024 sales to be flat to slightly down sequentially and adjusted EBITDA to be down approximately 10% year over year.
We remind, Chemours Company, a global chemistry company with leading market positions in Titanium Technologies, Thermal & Specialized Solutions, and Advanced Performance Materials, announces two upcoming changes to its Board of Directors. Director Sandra Phillips Rogers has announced her decision not to stand for reelection and will serve out the remainder of her current term. Pamela Fletcher will join the Chemours Board as a director, effective March 1, 2024.
mrchub.com