Johnson Matthey upgrades guidance to account for catalysts business sale

Johnson Matthey PLC has provided a trading update with a statement on Oct. 9 and said the outlook for the full year 2025 is expected to reach the higher end of the company’s initial guidance of mid-single-digit growth in pro forma underlying operating profit at constant precious metal prices and constant currency, as per Chemweek.

This outlook excludes the company’s catalysts technologies and value businesses, it said. For the 2025–26 fiscal year, the catalyst technologies will be reported as a discontinued operation, following the company’s agreement in May to sell the business to Honeywell International Inc., Johnson Matthey said.

“We continue to make progress on both regulatory approvals and the carve-out of the business, and expect the transaction to complete by the first half of calendar year 2026,” the company said.

The company also noted that for the remainder of the 2025–26 fiscal year, it now expects a net benefit of approximately GDP10 million to full-year operating performance compared with the prior year if precious metal prices and foreign exchange rates remain at their current levels. It previously expected a GDP5 million net adverse impact, it said.

Johnson Matthey expects strong performance in underlying operating profit for the first half of the year, excluding the catalyst technologies and value businesses, driven by ongoing efficiency improvements, together with strong trading in the platinum group metals services business, the company said.

The first-half underlying operating profit of the catalyst technologies business is expected to be “materially” down year over year, impacted by weaker demand for catalysts and the timing of licensing wins in key end markets, Johnson Matthey said.

“The long-term growth potential for this business remains strong, with additional large-scale project wins in the half and a healthy project pipeline in our sustainable technologies portfolio,” the company added.

The company will announce its half-year results for the six months ended Sept. 30, 2025, on Nov. 20, 2025.

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UPM Adhesive Materials, a subsidiary of UPM (Helsinki) that was formerly known as UPM Raflatac, will open a new slitting and distribution terminal near Hanoi, Vietnam, according to a UPM statement Oct. 9, as per Chemweek.

The new terminal is expected to be in operation around mid-2026, UPM said. Financial details about the investment were not disclosed.

The new facility will ensure “agile” service for customers in the Northern Vietnam area, the company said. Northern Vietnam has a high concentration of businesses in the durables and electronics end-uses, which creates a significant demand for high-quality label materials, it said.

Vietnam is one of the fastest growing markets in Southeast Asia and the whole APAC region, UPM added.

The company’s new facility will offer a targeted portfolio of label material inventory based on the needs of the local customers to ensure greater efficiency and flexibility in deliveries, it said.

UPM Adhesive Materials has recently announced an investment in a new coating line and other facility and material handling upgrades in its label material factory at Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

UPM Adhesive Materials operates two factories in the APAC, one in China and one in Malaysia. It also operates eleven terminals and warehouses across Southeast Asia, North Asia and Oceania.

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OMV AG’s (Vienna) olefin margins increased year over year in the third quarter, the company said in a trading update issued Oct. 9, as per Chemweek.

Its Europe ethylene indicator margin increased to €570 per metric ton in the third quarter from €522 per metric ton a year earlier, and its propylene margin increased to €448 per metric ton from €406 per metric ton.

OMV’s Europe polyethylene (PE) indicator margin also increased year over year to €473 per metric ton from €447 per metric ton, but its Europe polypropylene (PP) indicator margin declined year over year to €360 per metric ton from €407 per metric ton.

However, the company’s ethylene, propylene, PE and PP margins all declined in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter.

OMV’s steam cracker utilization and polyolefin sales volume stayed relatively flat. Its third-quarter average cracker operating rate was 84%, slightly up from 83% a year earlier, and its polyolefin sales volume was 1.55 million metric tons (MMt) in the third quarter, down from 1.60 MMt in the prior-year period.

The company did not provide an analysis of the figures. It will publish full third-quarter financial results on Oct. 29.

OMV held a capital market update earlier this week where the company said it is targeting cracker utilization above 90% by 2030.

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India’s petrochemical market was in flux on Oct. 10 after the US administration announced fresh sanctions against nine Indian entities trading Iranian petroleum products, as per Chemweek.

The new sanctions list from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a branch of the US Treasury Department, includes BK Sales Corp., C.J. Shah and Co., Chemovick Private Ltd., Haresh Petrochem Private Ltd., Indisol Marketing Private Ltd., Mody Chem, Paarichem Resources LLP and Shiv Texchem Pvt Ltd. Additionally, Vega Star Ship Management Private Ltd., a ship management services company, was also sanctioned.

This move follows barely weeks after OFAC imposed sanctions on eight India-based entities, including traders such as Ramniklal S Gosalia and Co., Jupiter Dye Chem Private Ltd., Global Industrial Chemicals Ltd. and Persistent Petrochem Private Ltd.

Trade sources said to Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, the sanctions could disrupt trade as many of these entities deal in multiple petrochemical commodities sourced from various countries.

“Some of the biggest petchem importers in India are on the list, so it’s quite a big issue now,” an East Asia-based seller said.

The move could cause “widespread disruption for the Indian chemical market,” a Southeast Asia-based seller said, adding that “many cargoes are enroute, which will be either stuck or will be sold at loss.”

Sellers feared that payments would get stuck for the cargoes already sold to the sanctioned entities or en route to India, creating huge losses for them.

“The market could get short in the coming days. Hardly any players are left now who have not traded in Iranian petchems” a Mumbai-based trader said.

Some sources indicated that the new list of sanctioned Indian entities could have a significant impact on the market.

“The chemical trading sector and Indian importers have been singularly targeted, and this will negatively impact the industry," a Middle East-based seller said. "Exporters from Asia and the US are unable to offer products as they do not know who will be impacted next, and they will not get paid despite having a confirmed Line of Credit in place. There will be turmoil in the short term until new instruments and companies are formed. This is surely not good for both importers and consumers in India.”

An end user said that sanctioned entities will find it difficult to import material.

"Methanol, styrene, MEG — all markets are going to be affected," the end user said. "Existing contracts for styrene may also be canceled or halted.”

Several Indian traders indicated that prices in the domestic markets are likely to increase. “For now, the offers are on hold,” said a Mumbai-based trader.

Another source based in Kolkata said, “Domestic prices are set to increase, and there will be supply tightness for chemical products in the near term.”

An India-based trader said that they were assessing the situation for the isocyanates market. The customer base remains unaffected for now, but suppliers may start facing challenges, the trader said.

The market for butyl acrylate is currently in wait-and-watch mode, according to an Indian trader. "This is a repetition of what happened a couple of months ago; the impact is not just on the butyl acrylate market but the entire chemicals industry," the Indian trader said.

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Sabic, the chemicals business of Saudi Aramco, sees opportunities in the anticipated growth in European demand for circular and sustainable plastics despite current petrochemical market headwinds, as per Chemweek.

“Europe is the innovation hub for us,” Sami Al-Osaimi, executive vice president/polymers at Sabic, said Oct. 8 in a briefing at the K 2025 plastics trade fair being held in Dusseldorf on Oct. 8-15.

Osaimi said Sabic continues to see “huge attention” in Europe to the development of circular solutions for products in applications including automotive, mobility and healthcare.

“This is where we see value creation and that’s our focus,” he said. Osaimi acknowledged that the global chemical industry — in the midst of a sustained downturn now in its fourth year due primarily to structural issues of oversupply and weak demand — is “having a challenging time… we see global demand swinging.”

Sabic permanently closed several petchem plants in Europe during an 18-month period from January 2024 to June 2025, including naphtha crackers at Geleen, Netherlands, and Wilton, UK, and a polycarbonate (PC) plant in Spain, as it responded to the downbeat market conditions and Europe’s lack of competitiveness in the olefins and polyolefins sectors compared with lower-cost regions.

Sabic has been “passing and navigating through those kind of challenges” for the past five decades, Osaimi said. He did not discount further rationalization of its asset portfolio in Europe, saying that Sabic “always assesses and reviews its operations and businesses, looking at how we can become more efficient.”

However, he noted that out of over 130 new polymer solutions and products being displayed by the company at K 2025, more than 120 were “coming from our assets in Europe.”

Sabic also remains focused on mechanical and chemical recycling solutions, in response to rising demand from its customers, he said.

In August, Sabic’s chemical recycling joint venture with Plastic Energy Ltd. at Geleen produced its first batch of pyrolysis oil (pyoil). The JV plant is slated to begin full commercial production later this year with a nameplate input capacity for 20,000 metric tons per year of mixed waste plastics.

The plant has been designed to integrate into Sabic’s petchems complex at Geleen for the onward production of polymers, using the pyoil volumes as a drop-in substitute for conventional naphtha.

Less than 30% of Europe’s 32 million metric tons of waste plastics is currently recycled, according to Plastic Energy.

The EU has a current goal under its Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) for all packaging to be fully recyclable by 2030.

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