Albemarle reported higher Q4 income on jump in sales

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The developer, manufacturer and marketer of specialty chemicals producer Albemarle reported Q4 net income of USD182.7 million or USD1.55 per share, compared with the prior-year period’s net loss of USD13 million or USD0.24 loss per share, said Wallstreet.

Adjusted net earnings were USD1.03 per share, ex one-time items, versus USD0.99 per share in the same quarter the previous year. The Capital IQ analyst estimate is for USD0.83 EPS. Revenue was USD930.4 million, up from USD598.6 million in the same quarter last year. Analysts were expecting revenue of USD885.7 million. The company expects fiscal 2016 EPS of USD3.45 – USD3.80 versus the Street view is of USD3.89 EPS.

Albemarle attributed the increase to its acquisition of Rockwood Holdings, which closed in January 2015. The gain from Rockwood was partially offset by lower sales volumes, unfavourable prices and mixes in some of its businesses as well as unfavourable currency exchange rates.

Albemarle makes catalysts, lithium and lithium compounds, bromine and bromine derivatives and surface-treatment chemicals.
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Italys Maire Tecnimont to invest USD1.1bn in Iran projects

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Italy-based Maire Tecnimont, a leading engineering company, has signed an agreement worth EUR1 billion (USD1.11 billion) with the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Co (PGPIC) to construct refineries and petrochemical plants in Iran, a report said, said Tradearabia.

The agreement includes providing finance, parts and equipment, as well as solutions to Iran's processing issues, added the report.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Maire Tecnimont’s CEO Pierroberto Folgiero said that Italy is seeking to open a new chapter in its cooperation with Iran, especially in the oil and petrochemical industries.

Maire Tecnimont will help Iran build an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and rubber plant in the industrial city of Asaluyeh, said the report.

The ABS product has a variety of applications including in the automotive industry, it added.

As MRC informed earlier, Germany-based Linde, a leading industrial gases company, and Japan’s Mitsui Chemicals plan to invest USD4 billion into petrochemical projects in Iran. Linde is considering investment in several Iranian projects, including Damavand Petrochemicals, in cooperation with Japan’s Mitsui, Marzieh Shah-Daei projects director at the National Petrochemical Company (NPC).
MRC

Iran in talks with Air Liquide to build petrochemical plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iran is in talks with France’s Air Liquide to develop a 0.5mt Propylene via Methanol (PVM) plant, said Iran-bn.

Esmaeil Qambari (pictured), managing director of the Petrochemical Research and Technology Company, told reporters on Monday that the company is in talks with companies from Germany, France, Norway and Japan to purchase petrochemical technologies from them.

"In the latest development, we have held talks with Air Liquide for scientific partnership for development of a 500,000-ton Propylene via Methanol (PVM) plant," he said.

Ghambari said his company has developed a new model for its cooperation with foreign firms, saying, "Purchasing foreign technologies will take place only [if] foreign technologies are transferred to and localized in Iran."

He said the new model will reduce sale of crude oil, generate jobs, link upstream sector to downstream and petrochemical sectors and generate valued added in the industry.

He further said the company launched the first PVM pilot plant in Mahshahr during the first half of the current year and has gained permission to build an industrial unit with the capacity of 120,000 tons in the region.

As MRC reported earlier, NPC plans to increase its investments in the country's petrochemical projects in order to accelerate their progress, wrote in October 2014 Fars News Agency, quoting NPC Deputy Head Mohammad Hassan Peyvandi. The company is legally permitted to have a 20% share in petrochemical investments, but this can increase to 49% in under developed regions.

NPC is prioritizing funding for projects that are at least 60% complete, he said. These include the Takht-Jamshid SBR & PBR unit, the second phases of the Kavian and Karoun petrochemical plants, the West Ethylene Pipeline and petrochemical projects in the provinces of Lorestan, Kurdistan, Illam, Mahabad and Hamedan.
MRC

Intertape Polymer to invest in new plant to expand capacity in water-activated tapes

МОSCOW (MRC) -- Intertape Polymer Group Inc. decided to invest in the construction of a greenfield manufacturing facility to increase the Company's manufacturing capacity of water-activated tapes, said Marketwired.

Over the past few years, water-activated tapes have represented an area of significant growth for the Company. The Company currently produces water-activated tape at a manufacturing facility in Menasha, Wisconsin and has decided that this new facility will be constructed in the Southeastern United States in order to optimize service levels to its customers and supply chain logistics at both plants. The exact location of the new plant will be determined upon receipt of final approval of state and local credits and incentives offered.

Capital expenditures for this new investment project are currently estimated to total approximately USD44 to USD49 million US dollars, and the project's after-tax internal rate of return is expected to exceed the Company's hurdle rate of 15%. Approximately USD31 to USD36 million of capital expenditures are expected to be incurred on this project in 2016. Approximately USD4 million of equipment purchased in 2015 is being applied to this project. At this time, the Company is planning for the new manufacturing facility to be operational by the end of 2017. Total capital expenditures for 2016 for the Company are now expected to be approximately USD55 to USD65 million.

As it was informed earlier, Intertape Polymer Group Inc. is acquiring RJM Manufacturing Inc., a maker of filament and pressure sensitive tapes, in an USD11 million deal.

Intertape, which has corporate offices in Montreal and Sarasota, Fla., previously acquired Better Packages Inc. of Ansonia, Conn., a maker of table-top water-activated tape and dispensers used for carton sealing.

Intertape makes film- and paper-based pressure sensitive and water-activated tapes, polyethylene and specialized polyolefin films, woven coated fabrics and packaging systems for industrial and retail use. The company has 16 sites, including 11 manufacturing locations in North America and one manufacturing site in Porto, Portugal.
MRC

LyondellBasell Board authorizes interim dividend

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell, one of the world’s largest plastics, chemical and refining companies, has announced that its Supervisory Board has authorized the company's Management Board to declare an interim dividend of USD0.78 per share, said the producer on its site.

The interim dividend will be paid March 14, 2016 to shareholders of record February 29, 2016 with an ex-dividend date of February 25, 2016.

We remind that, as MRC wrote before, in October 2015, LyondellBasell announced the acquisition of SJS Plastiblends Pvt. Ltd. (SJS), thereby advancing the company’s position in India’s expanding automotive market. In August, LyondellBasell announced a definitive agreement to acquire SJS, a polypropylene (PP) compounds manufacturer located in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India.

LyondellBasell is one of the world’s largest plastics, chemical and refining companies and a member of the S&P 500. LyondellBasell manufactures products at 56 sites in 19 countries. LyondellBasell products and technologies are used to make items that improve the quality of life for people around the world including packaging, electronics, automotive parts, home furnishings, construction materials and biofuels.
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