TRINSEO
Outlook for 2019 downgraded / Market weakness continued in Q1 / 2018 earnings lower than expected
 PS resin (Photo: Trinseo) |
Styrenics producer Trinseo (Berwyn, Pennsylvania / USA; www.trinseo.com) downgraded its financial forecast for 2019 amidst continuing market weakness that depressed earnings in the last quarter of 2018. It now expects a net income of USD 248-318m (EUR 219-280m) and adjusted EBITDA of USD 500-580m. The previous outlook was USD 344-368m and USD 600-630m, respectively – see Plasteurope.com of 20.11.2018.
“We are seeing the late 2018 market conditions impacting our business in the first quarter of 2019 but with signs of improvement across many product areas,” outgoing CEO Chris Pappas said – see Plasteurope.com of 06.02.2019. He said the low end of the 2019 financial guidance assumes limited improvement to current market conditions. The upper range had factored in a recovery during the January-June period followed by healthier second half conditions.
Sales gained 4% at USD 4.6 bn in 2018 due mainly to currency developments. Net income of USD 292m was USD 36m lower than in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA was down 10.7% at USD 573m.
The earnings decline was attributed largely to the fourth-quarter performance, which saw lower sales volume in the Feedstocks, Performance Plastics and Synthetic Rubber segments on the back of a weaker automotive market. Quarterly headwinds also included currency movements, customer destocking and delayed orders due to China’s macroeconomic situation. There was also a negative impact from an unplanned outage at the styrene monomer plant in Terneuzen / The Netherlands.
Pappas said Trinseo ended 2018 with lower than anticipated profitability due to challenging market dynamics and economic conditions towards the end of the year.
For the plastics-relevant segments, Performance Plastics boosted its 2018 sales by 11% to USD 1.58 bn after a decline of 5% in the last quarter. At Polystyrene, quarterly sales dropped 1% and for the full year they advanced 8% to USD 1.02 bn. At Feedstocks annual sales decreased 5.5% to USD 387m.
“We are seeing the late 2018 market conditions impacting our business in the first quarter of 2019 but with signs of improvement across many product areas,” outgoing CEO Chris Pappas said – see Plasteurope.com of 06.02.2019. He said the low end of the 2019 financial guidance assumes limited improvement to current market conditions. The upper range had factored in a recovery during the January-June period followed by healthier second half conditions.
Sales gained 4% at USD 4.6 bn in 2018 due mainly to currency developments. Net income of USD 292m was USD 36m lower than in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA was down 10.7% at USD 573m.
The earnings decline was attributed largely to the fourth-quarter performance, which saw lower sales volume in the Feedstocks, Performance Plastics and Synthetic Rubber segments on the back of a weaker automotive market. Quarterly headwinds also included currency movements, customer destocking and delayed orders due to China’s macroeconomic situation. There was also a negative impact from an unplanned outage at the styrene monomer plant in Terneuzen / The Netherlands.
Pappas said Trinseo ended 2018 with lower than anticipated profitability due to challenging market dynamics and economic conditions towards the end of the year.
For the plastics-relevant segments, Performance Plastics boosted its 2018 sales by 11% to USD 1.58 bn after a decline of 5% in the last quarter. At Polystyrene, quarterly sales dropped 1% and for the full year they advanced 8% to USD 1.02 bn. At Feedstocks annual sales decreased 5.5% to USD 387m.
19.02.2019 Plasteurope.com [241783-0]
Published on 19.02.2019
German version of this article...