MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ecolab today reported fourth-quarter net income down 24% year-on-year (YOY), to USD300.3 million, on net sales down 6%, to USD3.07 billion. Adjusted earnings totaled USD1.23/share, down 15% YOY and slightly short of analysts’ consensus estimate of USD1.25/share, reported Chemweek with reference to Refinitiv (New York, New York).
Growth in healthcare and sciences businesses was offset by declines in industrial businesses. Sales decline “stabilized” in the institutional and specialty, and other, businesses, Ecolab says.
“We had a solid business performance during the fourth quarter in the face of significant COVID-19 related end market restrictions that were more substantial and widespread than anticipated,” says Ecolab president and CEO Christophe Beck. “Our underlying business continued its sequential improvement as sales trends remained stable and operating income further improved, driven by new business and customer penetration gains, along with continued pricing and lower costs.”
Global industrial segment net sales fell 2% YOY, to USD1.54 billion, while segment operating income was up 18%, to USD316.4 million. Sales grew in the food and beverage and paper businesses, but declined modestly in the water business and decline significantly in the downstream business.
Global institutional and specialty segment sales fell 21% YOY, to USD881.8 million, while segment operating income was down 62%, to USD94.4 million. Sales declined significantly in the in the institutional business, and modestly in the specialty business, with both divisions hit by the second wave of COVID-19 infections during the quarter.
Healthcare and life sciences segment sales grew 26% YOY, to USD318.1 million, while segment operating income increased 71%, to USD53.8 million. COVID-19 drove demand higher, leading to higher volumes across the segment.
Other segment sales were down 7% YOY, to USD283.2 million, while segment operating income fell 9%, to USD43.5 million. A modest increase in the pest elimination business was offset by declines in the rest of the segment, including textile care and colloidal technologies, Ecolab says.
“As we enter 2021, we expect COVID-19 will continue to have a significant effect on the economy and our end markets, with its primary impact in the early part of the year,” Beck says. “We expect to see the beginning of the COVID-19 recovery in our global end markets starting in the second quarter but believe it will take several quarters to fully realize a new normal.”
As MRC informed before, in November 2020, Douglas M. Baker Jr., CEO of Ecolab Inc., announced his retirement effective January 1, 2021, according to ISSA. Baker will remain in his current position as Ecolab board chairman. Christophe Beck has been appointed Baker’s successor as CEO. Earlier, Beck serves as the company’s president and chief operating officer.
We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in November 2020 by 9.5% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased in the first eleven months of 2020 by 6.6% year on year, 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-November 2020 output. November production of polymers in primary form rose to 896,000 tonnes from 852,000 tonnes in October. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 9,240,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 17.1% year on year.
MRC