PPG Industries says third-quarter results to be better than expected

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PPG Industries says it expects third-quarter net sales to be down 5% year-on-year (YOY), compared with prior guidance calling for a decline of 6–11%, reported Chemweek.

Adjusted earnings are forecast to total USD1.90–1.94/share. PPG has not previously provided third-quarter earnings guidance. In the year-ago quarter, adjusted earnings totaled USD1.67/share, and net sales totaled about USD3.8 billion.

“The better than expected quarterly financial results were driven by improving demand in several end-use markets resulting in higher sales volumes, coupled with continued, aggressive cost management actions,” PPG says. This includes strong YOY growth in sales volumes in the company’s architectural coatings business.

“We expect to achieve high-teen percentage operating margins in both reporting segments for the quarter, reflecting improving sales volumes and continued execution of our cost management initiatives,” says PPG chairman and CEO Michael McGarry. “We are continuing to deliver strong performance in our aggregated global architectural coatings and packaging coatings businesses, which is now being coupled with strengthening demand for our automotive original equipment manufacturer and general industrial coatings. These businesses collectively represent about 70% of our business portfolio. In the remainder of our businesses, demand trends continue to be mixed due to impacts from the pandemic.”

PPG’s two reporting segments are performance coatings and industrial coatings. The company will report full third-quarter 2020 results on 19 October.

As MRC wrote previously, in February 2020, PPG said it had completed its acquisition of Industria Chimica Reggiana (ICR, Reggio Emilia, Italy), a maker of automotive refinish products. Financial terms of the deal, including purchase price, were not disclosed. The deal was announced on 8 January. ICR was founded in 1961 and employs about 180 people. ICR manufactures automotive refinish products, including putties, primers, basecoats and clear coats. It also makes a range of coatings, enamels and primers for light commercial vehicles and other light industrial coatings applications. ICR employs about 180 people and sells its products in more than 70 countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the US and Latin America.

We remind that Russia's output of products from polymers grew in August 2020 by 4.1% year on year. However, this figure increased by 1.9% year on year in the first eight months of 2020, reported MRC analysts. According to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, August production of unreinforced and non-combined films rose to 126,300 tonnes from 118,200 tonnes a month earlier. Output of films products grew in January-August 2020 by 8.3% year on year to 863,200 tonnes. August production of non-porous polymer boards, sheets and films exceeded 38,700 tonnes versus 36,400 tonnes in July. Thus, overall output of these products reached 271,900 tonnes over the stated period, up by 3.5% year on year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Two consortiums led by Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Technip Italy are bidding for a USD1.8 billion project to upgrade and expand Vietnam’s Dung Quat refinery, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to the owner of the plant's statement.

Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical said in a statement the project would raise the refinery’s capacity by 30% to 8.5 million tons of crude oil a year, or 170,000 barrels per day (bpd).

A company source told Reuters on Thursday the company would name the winner of the bid in about a month.

The source added that the refinery was running at full capacity after it was restarted more than a week ago following a 50-day shutdown for maintenance.

“The expansion and upgrade of the refinery is a necessary and urgent task to ensure the flexible, stable and efficient operations of the refinery, enabling it to process more types of crude oil,” the company said in the statement.

The 130,000-bpd refinery in the central province of Quang Ngai started commercial operations in 2009. It was originally designed to process mostly crude oil from Vietnam’s Bach Ho field, whose production has peaked.

The Hyundai E&C-led consortium also consists of Hyundai Engineering Co., according to Binh Son. The other consortium includes Technip Italy, Technip Geoproduction, Technip France, PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp. and Lilama Corp.

Binh Son said work on the expansion and upgrade of the refinery would start in August 2021.

As MRC reported before, Binh Son Refinery and Petrochemical restarted the polypropylene (PP) plant at the beginning of October 2020 following a major maintenance shutdown. The 150,000 tons/year unit was taken off-stream on 12 August as the producer conducts overhaul at the upstream units.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rohm (Darmstadt, Germany) says it will lift sales control on 12 October in Europe for methyl methacrylate (MMA) after imposing it mid-September, reported Chemweek.

Although demand “remains high,” the company says its decision to lift sales control is supported by the resumption of production in its plant in Worms, Germany. The facility has successfully completed an annual maintenance turnaround and operations have been resumed, it says.

Rohm put MMA on sales control on 15 September due to increased demand and limited availability of raw materials. The Worms plant has a production capacity of 225,000 metric tons/year of MMA, with its facility at Wesseling, Germany, having a nameplate capacity of 95,000 metric tons/year of MMA.

The company implemented its most recent price increase on 1 September for MMA and other methacrylate monomer products in Europe.

As MRC wrote before, Roehm took off-stream its MMA plant in June 2020. The company started turnaround at the plant on June 5, 2020. The plant remained under maintenance for about 10 days. Located in Wesseling, Germany, the plant has a production capacity of 95,000 mt/year.

The principal application, consuming approximately 75% of the MMA, is the manufacture of polymethyl methacrylate acrylic plastics (PMMA). Methyl methacrylate is also used for the production of the co-polymer methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene (MBS), used as a modifier for polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PVC production totalled 718,500 tonnes in January-September 2020, down by 0.3% year on year. At the same time, only two producers managed to increase their PVC output.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The production site of the Unipetrol Group in Zaluzi near Litvinov will host a planned emergency response exercise on Friday, 9 October 2020, said the company.

Traffic on adjacent roads will be stopped for five minutes during the drill. Warning signals will be heard from the site, and evacuation of people will take place. The training aims to vet Unipetrol’s internal emergency plan. "Safety is a top-priority topic for us. We conduct an extra emergency drill each year even though the law sets out the interval for the emergency plan check once in three years. During the upcoming exercise, we will put the emergency plan’s effectiveness to the test, as well as the up-to-datedness of the operational and safety documentation of the newly commissioned polyethylene unit, PE3, and cooperation of all emergency response units. This time, we will simulate an isobutene leak from a technology facility connected with an explosion and subsequent fire. We will train evacuation of people in the petrochemistry administrative building," explains Adam Jarosz, a member of the Board of Directors of the Unipetrol Group, who is responsible for the management of occupational health protection and procedural safety, the environment and investment projects.

In cooperation with the Police of the Czech Republic, the emergency liquidation training will also involve a test of the warning and notification system. It means that from 9.15 am, there will be a temporary five-minute closure of Road I/27 (between Most and Litvinov), Road III/0272 (towards Komorany), Road III/2541 (Towards Horni Jiretin), and Road III/02710 (from Most to Marianske Radcice).

As MRC informed earlier, Unipetrol has completed the highest ever investment in the Czech chemical industry. Following the completion of the respective tests, the company took delivery of the second part of the new polyethylene unit.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.

The Unipetrol Group is the largest refinery and petrochemical company in the Czech Republic. It focuses on crude-oil processing and on the production, distribution and sale of vehicle fuels and petrochemical products – particularly plastics and fertilizers. In all these areas, it belongs among the important players on the Czech and Central European market. The Unipetrol Group encompasses refineries and production plants in Litvinov and Kralupy nad Vltavou, Paramo with its Mogul brand in Pardubice and Kolin, Spolana Neratovice, and two research centers in Litvinov and Brno. Unipetrol also includes a network of Benzina filling stations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. With 417 filling stations, Benzina is the largest chain in the Czech Republic. Unipetrol is one of the largest companies in terms of turnover in the Czech Republic. It earned over CZK 130 billion last year and employs more than 4,800 persons. In addition to its business development, Unipetrol is proud to be a socially responsible corporation. Therefore, it pays an equal amount of attention to initiatives which focus on the cultivation and support of sustainable development, education, local communities, and the environment. In 2005, Unipetrol became a member of the PKN Orlen Group, the largest crude-oil processor in Central Europe.

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1. European Court of Auditors warns that EU risks not meeting its plastic recycling targets for 2025, 2030

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The European Court of Auditors (ECA), which audits the EU's finances, says in a recent review there is a significant risk that the EU will not meet its plastic packaging recycling targets for 2025 and 2030, said Chemweek. ECA notes that the EU's 2018 update of its legal framework for plastic recycling reflects the EU’s increased ambitions and could help boost recycling capacity, but says the scale of the challenge facing the EU member states should not be underestimated. The auditors call for new and more accurate recycling reporting rules and a tightening of plastic waste export rules. Concerted action is needed to get the EU to where it wants to be in 5–10 years’ time, ECA says. According to the review, packaging alone, such as yogurt pots or water bottles, accounts for about 40% of plastic use and more than 60% of plastic waste generated in the EU. However, packaging has the lowest recycling rate in the EU at slightly more than 40%, ECA says. The European Commission’s plastics strategy, adopted in 2018, included an update of its 1994 Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive and doubled the EU's recycling target to 50% by 2025 with a goal of 55% by 2030. Reaching these targets would be a significant step toward achieving the EU’s circular economy goals, the auditors say. "To meet its new recycling targets for plastic packaging, the EU must reverse the current situation, whereby we incinerate more than we recycle. This is a daunting challenge,” says Samo Jereb, the ECA member responsible for the review. “By resuscitating single-use habits amid sanitary concerns, the [COVID-19] pandemic shows that plastics will continue to be a mainstay of our economies, but also an ever-growing environmental threat."




MOSCOW (MRC) -- Stolt-Nielsen has reported net profit of USD29.2 million for the third quarter, a substantial improvement on net profit of USD3.4 million in the prior-year period and USD3.6 million in the second quarter, despite sales that declined over 8% year on year (YOY) to USD474.0 million, according to Chemweek. The improved result was mainly driven by healthy volumes, lower fuel prices in its tankers and tank containers businesses, and lower overall administrative and general expenses, it says. “We are cautiously optimistic that the momentum of a strengthening chemical tanker market will continue,” says CEO Niels Stolt-Nielsen. “Longer term, the favorable supply/demand outlook should provide a good foundation for continued improved results at Stolt Tankers,” he says. For its Stolthaven tank terminals business, the company expects to see healthy demand in most regions, he says. Stolt’s tank containers business is also seeing “signs of improvement, particularly in Asia,” after a seasonally slow third quarter, he adds. While the global economic outlook remains uncertain, the company is also cautiously optimistic about the fourth quarter and beyond, based on the contract portfolio it has secured across its three logistics businesses, according to Stolt-Nielsen. The COVID-19 pandemic is still impacting scheduling in its tankers business, “necessitating costly rerouting of ships in order to make overdue crew changes,” he says. The company was able to secure five modern 26,000-deadweight metric ton stainless-steel chemical tankers in the secondhand market “at a very attractive price,” he notes. The tankers are expected to be delivered starting in December.

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