Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -- Polyurethanes additive maker Chemtura reported net sales of $556m (EUR402) during the first quarter of 2014 – an increase of 5% on Q1 2013. Its net earnings figure was posted as $6m for the first quarter of this year.
The results were a significant improvement on the $23m losses the company reported for Q1 last year although, as reported at Utech-polyurethane.com at the time, they were down to the cost of environmental provisions made for a site in France.
The company’s adjusted EBITDA during Q1 2014 -$57m represented a 16% drop on the reported adjusted EBITDA of $68m from Q1 2013.
Speaking via a conference call chairman, president and chief executive officer Craig Rogerson, sales for insulation foam applications were “lower sequentially” and there had also been a slow demand for traditional insulation foam flame retardants. He said however, that sales of urethanes products had grown and been led by “some recovery” in mining applications.
Industrial performance products' net sales increased from $241m in Q1 2013 to $247m, or by 2%, he said. Sales volume in the segment increased due to an increase in demand for urethane products. Income from urethane sales increased from $72m during the first quarter of 2013 to $76m in Q1 2014, according to the report.
Sales of industrial engineered products increased 5% from $199m during Q1 2013 to $208m during the first quarter of 2014. Rogerson said an increased demand for flame retardants during Q1 was offset by lower demand for brominated performance products over the same period. He said the products also had lower selling prices, particularly those for insulation foam applications.
“While the segment showed an overall improvement in net sales, lower selling prices, higher raw material costs, unfavourable manufacturing variances and increased inventory reserves eroded the volume gains,” said Rogerson.
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