Akzo Nobel lifted by cost cutting

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Akzo Nobel NV on Tuesday said third-quarter profit rose 32% driven by cost savings and lower restructuring and financing costs, adding that it was on track to meet its 2015 targets despite a fragile economy, said the company in its press release.

The Dutch paint and chemicals company said net profit for the quarter came in at EUR205 million (USD262.4 million), compared with EUR155 in the same period last year. Operating income rose 11%.

Revenue for the quarter fell 2% to EUR3.69 billion, from EUR3.78 billion in the third quarter of 2013. While volumes grew 1%, the gain was more than offset by a higher share of lower-margin products, currency effects and divestments.

"Akzo Nobel delivered a solid Q3 performance, despite continued economic uncertainty," Chief Executive Ton Buchner said.

As MRC wrote before, AkzoNobel announced that it will establish a new organization for its Performance Coatings Business Area in order to drive leading performance.

Akzo Nobel N.V., trading as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational, active in the fields of decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, and employs approximately 55,000 people.
MRC

МOSCOW (MRC) -- PPG Industries Inc. PPG said its third-quarter earnings rose 64% amid broad sales growth across its main business segments, said The Wall Street Journal.

The Pittsburgh company has turned to acquisitions as part of its efforts to transform itself into a company focused more on paints and coatings.

On Monday, PPG said Mexican regulators extended their review of the company’s pending USD2.3 billion deal for Consorcio Comex SA. The extension had been expected owing to the complexity of the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Rival Sherwin-Williams Co. previously had abandoned its efforts to acquire the Mexican paint maker amid regulatory issues, but PPG expects its acquisition will be approved as it doesn’t have a large a presence in Mexico’s building-paint market.

During the quarter, the company completed the sale of a North American flat glass manufacturing facility, and an automotive glass equity affiliate sold one of its business lines.

PPG’s results remained uneven across its geographic markets, Chairman and Chief Executive Charles E. Bunch said.

PPG Industries, Inc. (PPG) is a global supplier of protective and decorative coatings. Performance Coatings, Industrial Coatings and Architectural Coatings- EMEA segments supply protective and decorative finishes for customers in a range of end use markets, including industrial equipment, appliances and packaging; factory-finished aluminum extrusions and steel and aluminum coils; marine and aircraft equipment; automotive original equipment; and other industrial and consumer products. The Optical and Specialty Materials segment consist of the optical products and silicas businesses. PPG is a producer and supplier of basic chemicals. Glass segment produces flat glass and continuous-strand fiber glass. In July 2014, PPG acquired Masterwork Paint Co. In July 2014, the Company announced that its North American architectural coatings business has completed acquisition of The Homax Group, Inc., supplier of decorative wall and ceiling texture repair products, from Olympus Partners.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company and a global leader in vinyl acetate ethylene (EVA) emulsions, has announced the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Cool Polymers, Inc., based in North Kingstown, R.I., reported the company on its site.

The acquisition will accelerate Celanese's growth in the conductive polymers market by building on Cool Polymers' strong product portfolio and technical capabilities. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Cool Polymers is a leading compounder of conductive polymers. The company's technical capabilities in the LED (light-emitting diode) market will allow for immediate customer growth while continuing to advance Celanese's engineered materials business across thermal management and electrical conductivity polymer applications.

"Cool Polymers has a strong technology position, advanced polymer formulation and compounding capabilities, and a product portfolio that can meet the global demand for innovative conductive polymer materials," said Phil McDivitt, vice president and general manager of the engineered materials business of Celanese. "We see substantial opportunity to create customer value with the acquisition of Cool Polymers."

In acquiring the Cool Polymers business, Celanese will also add to its engineered materials portfolio the products of Cool Polymers, including:

- CoolPoly E-Series: thermally conductive polymers that combine thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity in standard pellet form;
- CoolPoly D-Series: thermally conductive polymers that combine thermal conductivity and electrical isolation in standard pellet form;
- CoolPoly Elastomers: thermally conductive elastomers for both electrically conductive (E-Series) and electrically insulative (D-Series) grades.

As MRC informed previously, in April 2014, Celanese Corporation announced that it had developed new emulsion products for architectural paints. The company had also expanded its product portfolio for the coatings and adhesives industries, including Celansese's solvents, vinyl acetate monomer, EVA polymers and emulsions.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Texas, Celanese employs approximately 7,400 employees worldwide and had 2013 net sales of USD6.5 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi International Petrochemical Co. (SIPCHEM) today reported net profit of SR473.8 million for the nine months ended September 30 this year, representing 11.82% increase over the same period of last year, said Gulfbase.

The increase in net profit during nine months of 2014 is due to increase in some of company’s products prices.

Earnings per share was SR 1.29 compared with SR 1.15 per share for the same period last year.

SIPCHEM operating profit increased by 13.5% to SR 917 million during first nine months of year 2014 compared to SR 808 million of the same period last year.

SIPCHEM said it has registered a net profit of SR160.6 million in the third quarter 2014 compared to a net profit of SR 185.2 million in the same period last year, reflecting a decrease of 13.28%. Decrease in Net profit is due to decrease in production quantities and accordingly sales quantities due to unplanned shutdown of Methanol plant and planned shutdown of Butandiol plant during the third quarter of current year which was announced in TADAWUL site on 24-07-2014 and 31-08-2014 in addition to the increase in feedstock prices (Butane and Ethylene).

As MRC wrote before, in late 2013, Saudi International Petrochemical Co. (SIPCHEM) said it expects to sign a share-swap merger agreement with Sahara (SPC) Petrochemicals Co. in the first half of 2014, seeking to create a company with about USD5 billion in market value.

Established in 1999, Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) manufactures and markets methanol, butanediol, tetrahydrofuran, acetic acid, acetic anhydride, vinyl acetate monomer. Besides, it has launched several down-stream projects to manufacture ethylene vinyl acetate, low density polyethylene, ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, cross linkable polyethylene, and semi conductive compound that are scheduled to start in 2013.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A flame-retardant and glass fiber-reinforced polyamide (PA), the new Ultramid A3U42G6, is now part of BASF’s plastics portfolio, as per the company's statement.

This light colorable grade features easy processing with reduced deposit formation and corrosivity. Thus, it increases the durability of plasticizing units and injection molds and helps reducing production stoppages due to service and maintenance.

The new material meets UL 94 requirements for the V-0 flammability class at wall thicknesses as low as 0.4 millimeters. Its thermal ageing resistance has been considerably improved over that of well-known glass fiber-filled polyamide grades. With an RTI for dielectric strength (UL 746B) of 140 C at a wall thickness of 0.4 millimeters and even 150 C at thicknesses starting at 0.75 millimeters, the new Ultramid A3U42G6 is especially well suited for use at higher temperatures.

The new flame retardant system shows no migration effects and thus ensures component surfaces of higher quality. It also contains no halogen or antimony components. This allows favorable smoke density and toxicity values to be attained and also complies with the WEEE and ROHS directives.

Reinforced with 30% glass fibers, Ultramid A3U42G6 possesses the good mechanical properties typical of polyamides, and can be marked by laser, when colored black. This new grade is especially suitable for connectors and thermally stressed industrial automation applications such as switchgears and contactors. Effective immediately, the material is available in commercial volumes and with extensive supporting data.

We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, BASF, the German chemicals giant, and Archroma have recently agreed on the sale of BASF’s global textile chemicals business to Archroma, a supplier of specialty chemicals to the textile, paper and emulsions industries. Archroma is a portfolio company of SK Capital Partners, a private investment firm with focus on the specialty materials, chemicals and healthcare sectors. It is planned to integrate the business into the Archroma Textile Chemicals Specialties business. Currently, the textile chemicals business is part of BASF’s Performance Chemicals division.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF had sales of about EUR74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year.
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