Plastics producer Borealis (Vienna / Austria; www.borealisgroup.com) posted a second-quarter net profit of EUR 261m, down 15.5% from year-earlier EUR 309m on the back of softer European integrated polyolefin margins and continuing weakness in the fertiliser business environment.

Borealis said the European integrated polyolefin margins remained "healthy" and the fertiliser business performance was similar to the second quarter of 2016. The "solid" quarterly net profit was supported by the increased profit contribution from its petrochemical joint venture Borouge (Ruwais / UAE; www.borouge.com). Net sales rose 3.9% at EUR 1.861 bn, while total sales, including the pro-rata sales of companies consolidated in the group results based on Borealis’ equity shares, were up 4.7% at EUR 2.250 bn.

Touching on his expectations for the second-half, CEO Mark Garrett said the integrated polyolefin margins would "gradually normalise" and margins would "stay at a healthy level" in the next quarter. Further improvement was forecast in its fertiliser business, "under still difficult market conditions." The main challenge this year has been the record number of turnarounds. He said while the majority of them have been completed, there was still "significant turnaround work" to be done in the next two quarters. Garrett said Borouge’s expansion (see Plasteurope.com of 19.07.2017) would allow Borealis to capitalise on the "steep demand growth" for polyolefin products in Asia.