MOSCOW (MRC) -- German chemicals maker Covestro reported an 89% plunge in quarterly profit on Wednesday, hurt by weak demand in China due to coronavirus pandemic-driven production disruptions and as strong competition led to a decline in products prices, said Reuters.
The former Bayer unit, whose main customers include the automotive industry and electronics manufacturers, said its first-quarter net income attributable to shareholders dropped to 20 million euros (USD21.69 million).
Covestro, however, confirmed the preliminary figure for first-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).
As MRC informed earlier, Covestro has successfully closed the sale of its European polycarbonates (PC) sheets business to the Munich-based Serafin Group effective January 2, 2020. This includes key management and sales functions throughout Europe as well as production sites in Belgium and Italy.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, overall estimated consumption of PC granules totalled 12,600 tonnes in the Russian market in January-February 2020 (excluding imports and exports to/from Belarus), compared to 9,600 tonnes a year earlier. Demand increased by 31%.
Covestro (formerly Bayer MaterialScience) is an independent subgroup within Bayer. It was created as part of the restructuring of Bayer AG from the former business group Bayer Polymers, with certain of its activities being spun off to Lanxess AG. Covestro manufactures and develops materials such as coatings, adhesives and sealants, polycarbonates (CDs, DVDs), polyurethanes (automotive seating, insulation for refrigerating appliances) etc. With 2018 sales of EUR 14.6 billion, Covestro has 30 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 16,800 people (calculated as full-time equivalents) at the end of 2018.
MRC