Linde joins raft of euro losers as it trims profit forecast

MOSOCW (MRC) -- Linde AG (LIN), competing with Air Liquide SA (AI) to be the biggest industrial gases company, cut its outlook for profit this year as the strengthening euro sapped foreign earnings, said Businessweek.

Linde expects operating profit of "around" 4 billion euros (USD5.5 billion), rather than that figure being a minimum as envisaged earlier, the Munich-based company said today in a statement. Third-quarter operating profit climbed to 1.03 billion euros from 949 million euros a year earlier, exceeding the 990 million-euro estimate of 13 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Revenue increased 5.4% to 4.3 billion euros.

"We have fared quite well," Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Reitzle said in the statement. "Economic trends have been anything but dynamic and exchange rates have increasingly moved against us."

Reitzle has pushed Linde into new markets to reduce reliance on more cyclical products such as supplying oxygen and other gases to welders and steel plants. The USD3.8 billion acquisition of Clearwater, Florida-based Lincare doubled Linde’s North America gas sales, while it also bought the former home-care business of Air Products & Chemicals Inc. in January 2012. Reitzle, 64, will step down next May to be replaced by Wolfgang Buechele, currently CEO of Kermira Oyj.

Linde said its 2016 target of at least 5 billion euros in operating profit, defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, is dependent upon exchange rates remaining at a similar level to those when the target was set at the end of 2012. If they remain at current levels, they will reduce the figure by about 250 million euros. That also applies to a goal of return on capital employed of about 14% the same year.

As MRC wrote before, Linde Group has formed a joint venture with chemical company JSC KuibyshevAzot to build and operate a large ammonia plant at the Togliatti site in Russia's Samara region. Both partners signed an agreement to this effect on 27 May 2013. The deal will involve a total investment volume of around EUR 275 million. Both companies have an equal stake in the newly formed venture, Linde Nitrogen Togliatti.

The Linde Group is a world-leading gases and engineering company with around 62,000 employees in more than 100 countries worldwide. In the 2012 financial year, Linde generated revenue of EUR 15.280 bn. The strategy of the Group is geared towards long-term profitable growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment – in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. The company is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- DuPont declared a fourth quarter common stock dividend of 45 cents per share payable 13 December, 2013, to stockholders of record 15 November, 2013, reported the company on its site.

This dividend is the same as what was paid in the third quarter 2013. This is the 437th consecutive quarterly dividend since the company’s first dividend in the fourth quarter of 1904.

Regular quarterly dividends of USD1.12-1/2 per share on the USD4.50 series preferred stock and 87-1/2 cents per share on the USD3.50 series preferred stock also were declared, both payable 24 January, 2014, to stockholders of record 10 January, 2014.

As MRC informed earlier, DuPont has recently struck a deal to sell its car paint business to Washington-based investment firm Carlyle Group LP for USD4.9 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2013. DuPont said it will still generate more than USD3 billion through sales of advanced materials to the auto industry.

DuPont is an American chemical company that was founded in July, 1802. The company manufactures a wide range of chemical products, leading extensive innovative research in this field. The company is the inventor of many unique plastics and other materials, including neoprene, nylon, Teflon, Kevlar, Mylar, Tyvek, etc. DuPont was the developer and main producer of Freon used in the production of refrigeration equipment.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Basic Industries Corp., (SABIC) the world biggest petrochemicals maker, reported a 2.5% increase in third-quarter profit, said Bloomberg.

The shares dropped. Net income rose to 6.47 billion riyals (USD1.73 billion) from 6.31 billion riyals a year earlier, the Riyadh-based company known as Sabic said in a statement to the Saudi stock market today. The mean estimate of 10 analysts was for a profit of 6.56 billion riyals, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

"The increase in net income is attributable to an increase in quantities sold, favorable prices for certain products and lower financial charges despite lower other income," according to the company. Third-quarter sales 48.8 billion riyals compared with 44.8 billion a year earlier, Chief Financial Officer Mutlaq al-Morished told reporters in Riyadh.

Lower petrochemicals prices linked to sluggish demand in a struggling global economy affected profit at Sabic affiliates. Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Co. (SAFCO) reported a 36% decline in third-quarter profit as urea prices fell.

Sabic, which in 2007 bought General Electric Co.’s plastics unit for USD11.6 billion, said in April it plans to cut about 1,050 positions and close some assets in Europe because of lower demand. Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Al-Mady told reporters in the same month that Sabic is interested in investment possibilities in North America.

The company last month raised USD1 billion in its first dollar-bond deal since 2010 after investors placed orders worth more than five-times the issue’s size. Sabic’s credit default swaps, or contracts insuring the company’s debt against default for five years, are at a record low, having fallen 24 basis points this year to 79 last week.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) ranks among the world"s top petrochemical companies. The company is among the world"s market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers. SABIC recorded a net profit of SR 24.72 billion (USUSD 6.59 billion) in 2012, down 15,5% year-on-year. Sales revenues for 2012 totalled SR 189 billion (USUSD 50.40 billion). Total assets stood at SR 338 billion (USUSD 90.13 billion) at the end of 2012. SABIC manufactures on a global scale in Saudi Arabia, the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German packaging moulder Jokey Plastik has begun the construction of its newest plant at Zavolzhie in the Ulyanovsk region of Russia, said Europeanplasticsnews.

The EUR15m facility, now expected to create around 120 new jobs, is scheduled to be completed and operating in the third quarter of 2014. Jokey, of Wipperfurth, Germany has run another 18,000 sq. m plant with 68 injection machines in the region at Mogilev, Belarus for 10 years and built up a business turnover of EUR40m business in Russia.

In additton to the Ulyanovsk factory, the company plans to finish building another factory in Turkey.

At the Russian site ground breaking ceremony in August, Ulyanovsk governor Sergey Morozov suggested that Jokey could, at a later stage, extend its operations in Ulyanovsk region to moulding its other products including automotive and computer components.

Founded in 1968, Jokey Plastik currently remains one of the world"s leading manufacturers of plastic packaging. The company currently operates 13 plants in Germany, France, Poland, Czech Republic, Serbia, Belarus, Turkey, Algeria, Egypt and Canada.

In addition to its core activities, Jokey also specialises in making structural components for automotive and computer equipment, and furniture for bathrooms.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to Kazakhstan increased by 11% in the first nine months of this year compared with the same period in 2012. The bulk of PVC imports occurred for resin from China, according to MRC DataScope.

Total imports of unmixed PVC to Kazakhstan rose to 21,400 tonnes in January - September 2013 against 19,200 tonnes in the same period of 2012.

More than 95% of total imports accounted for Chinese PVC, the main increase in demand was provided by the local producers of pipes and profiled mouldings.

PVC demand in the Kazakh market in 2013 has slowed down. Total imports of unmixed PVC to Kazakhstan reached 26,200 tonnes in 2012 against 17,800 tonnes in 2011.

MRC