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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Cabot Corp. (Boston,
Massachusetts) reports a fiscal fourth-quarter net loss of USD272 million, down
from income of USD33 million in the year-ago period. Sales totaled USD659
million, down 20% year-over-year (YOY) from USD827 million, according to Chemweek.
The loss includes USD310
million in after-tax charges, mainly related to the sale and asset impairment of
the company’s lignite mine in Texas. Adjusted earnings per share came to
USD0.68, down 35% YOY from USD1.05, but well ahead of the average analyst
estimate of USD0.58 as compiled by Zacks Investment Research.
“I am very
pleased to see the strong sequential demand momentum in the fourth quarter
largely driven by an improving global economy and steady improvement in the tire
and automotive sectors,” says president and CEO Sean Keohane. “At the segment
level, we experienced a significant sequential improvement in demand in
reinforcement materials this quarter as customers increased their production
levels. In performance chemicals, we saw a modest sequential improvement in
volumes as key end markets begin to recover, and in purification solutions, we
executed the next step in our transformation plan by selling our lignite mine in
Marshall, Texas, and entering into a long-term supply agreement for activated
carbon from ADES.”
Keohane says he is encouraged by the pace of recovery
in automotive and tires, and Cabot expects both YOY and sequential EBIT
improvement in the first quarter of fiscal 2021, which began in October.
“Reinforcement materials is expected to benefit from improved margins,
particularly in Asia, and we anticipate that performance chemicals will benefit
in both volumes and product mix from a strengthening automotive end market,”
says the CEO.
Cabot forecasts adjusted earnings per share in the first
fiscal quarter of USD0.80-0.90.
The reinforcement materials segment
reported EBIT of USD59 million, down USD12 million YOY. Sales totaled USD325
million, down USD127 million, or 28%. An 11% volume decline was partially offset
by improved pricing.
The performance chemicals segment reported EBIT of
USD25 million, down USD16 million YOY, owing mainly to a less favorable product
mix in the specialty carbons and fumed metal oxides, and by a more competitive
pricing in fumed metal oxides. Sales totaled USD226 million, down USD33 million,
or 13%. Volumes decreased by 9% in the formulated solutions business, driven by
declines in specialty compounds and inkjet product lines. Volumes increased 2%
in performance additives, driven by the recent energy materials
acquisition.
The purification solutions segment reported EBIT of
breakeven, down USD3 million YOY. Sales totaled USD67 million, down USD1
million, or 1.5%.
As MRC informed
before, Cabot Corporation (Boston, Massachusetts) reports a fiscal third-quarter
net loss of USD6 million, down from income of USD32 million in the year-ago
quarter. Net sales totaled USD518 million, down 39% year-over-year (YOY) from
USD845 million. The company attributes the results to the sharp decline in the
automotive and tire sectors. Adjusted earnings per share came to a 7-cent loss,
down from profit of USD1.00 in the year-ago period, and short of the average
analyst estimate of a 2-cent loss as compiled by Refinitiv (New York).
We
remind
that Russia's output of chemical products rose in September 2020 by 6.7%
year on year.
At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased year
on year by 6.1% in the first nine months of 2020, according to Rosstat's data.
According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation,
polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the
January-September output. September production
of primary polymers decreased to 852,000 tonnes against 888,000 tonnes in August
due to shutdowns in Tomsk, Ufa and Kazan. Overall output of polymers in primary
form totalled 7,480,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 16.4% year on
year.
Cabot Corporation is an American specialty chemicals and
performance materials company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The
company operates in over 20 countries with 36 manufacturing plants, eight
research and development facilities and 28 sales offices. |
