Aker Solutions Q4 net income rises 4.7%

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Norwegian oil services firm Aker Solutions posted fourth-quarter earnings above expectations on Friday and maintained its medium-term guidance to grow with its key markets and at least maintain market share in its core subsea business, said Reuters.

The firm's earning before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 19 percent to 786 million Norwegian crowns (USD103 mln) in the fourth quarter, above expectations for 647 million in a Reuters poll of analysts and 661 million crowns a year ago.

Its order backlog fell slightly to 48.3 billion crowns from 49.0 billion three months earlier, but came above a mean forecast for 44.7 billion."We made good progress in the quarter on major subsea and engineering projects and also benefited from improvement programs across the business," said Aker Solutions CEO Luis Araujo.

The company’s full-year net income rose by 10.1% to NKr1.30bn, with sales up by 13.5% at NKr33bn.

As per MRC, Aker Solutions invested heavily to support the growth of the Asia Pacific region. This service base is a response to several new orders and recognition of the growing market demand in the region. Recently, Aker Solutions announced several investments in Malaysia including a new umbilical and a subsea service base, in addition to new equipment for its high-tech subsea manufacturing centre in Port Klang.

Aker Solutions provides oilfield products, systems and services for customers in the oil and gas industry world-wide.
Aker Solutions has approximately 3 100 employees in the UK. The company is one of Scotland"s largest employers with a workforce of more than 2 700 people in Aberdeen. In addition, the company has smaller offices and facilities in Great Yarmouth, Hastings, Maidenhead, Stockton-on-Tees and Whitstable. The company employs 25 000 people worldwide, and has annual revenues of approximately GBP 3.9 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korean petrochemical company LG Chemical is likely to shut a polypropylene (PP) plant for maintenance turnaround, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in South Korea informed that the plant is likely to be shut in late March 2015. It is expected to remain off-stream for around one month.

Located at Daesan in South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 600,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, LG Chemical is also likely to shut its ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) plant for maintenance turnaround in end March 2015. It is likely to remain off-stream for around three weeks. Located at Daesan in South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 140,000 mt/year.

Besides, LG Chem has recently unveiled its plans to shut down a styrene monomer (SM) plant for a one-month maintenance turnaround in South Korea in March 2015. Located in Daesan, South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 180,000 mt/year.

LG Chem Ltd., often referred to as LG Chemical, is the largest Korean chemical company and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. According to ICIS report, it is 15th biggest chemical company in the world in 2011. It has eight domestic factories and global network of 29 business locations in 15 countries. LG Chem is a manufacturer, supplier, and exporter of petrochemical goods, IT&E Materials and Energy Solutions.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PepsiCo, the beverage and snack giant, said that its quarterly earnings fell 24%, putting it in the ranks of companies whose finances were dented by currency swings at the end of last year, said Nytimes.

Sales declined slightly to USD19.95 billion in the quarter that ended Dec. 27, from USD20.12 billion in the year-ago period, the company said, and earnings dropped to USD1.3 billion.

Adjusting for currency swings, restructuring costs and other extraordinary charges, PepsiCo’s income was USD1.6 billion. Indra Nooyi, chief executive of PepsiCo, said 2014 "was a tough year" because of volatility in the currency markets, unrest in Russia and falling gas prices that no one anticipated. "The market was quite volatile, and as the year went on, we got to the second half of the year, we started to really experience all the volatility."

The company’s shares rose more than 2% to close at USD100.40. Pepsi’s rival Coca-Cola reported sharply lower earnings as currency fluctuations and various restructuring charges took their toll. Once analysts adjusted for those extraordinary factors, however, Coke’s stock also rose.

Both companies face a more fundamental challenge, namely, that consumers are drinking less sugary soda. PepsiCo has Frito-Lay and Quaker to cushion it from that trend, and Frito-Lay by far accounted for the largest share of Pepsi’s operating profits.

Pepsi and Coke have vast portfolios of beverage brands and have worked to attract consumers to the teas, waters and juices they sell, which may account for the slight uptick in their sales in the United States last year.

For the year, PepsiCo’s were flat at USD66.6 billion, and profits were USD6.5 billion, compared to USD6.7 billion in 2013. The company said it would spend as much as USD9 billion on higher dividends and share buybacks.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Styrolution, the Germany-headquartered supplier of styrenics, has reshuffled its management board, said the company in its press-release.

The moves follow the announcement of the retirement in July of Asia Pacific president Hyung Tae (HT) Chang, following more than 41 years of service in the chemical industry. Steve Harrington, currently president of global styrene monomer, will assume an additional role as president Asia Pacific, effective from 1 April.

Rob Buntinx will join Styrolution’s management board as president, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), effective from 1 March. He will replace Kevin McQuade, who took over the reigns as Styrolution’s chief executive in January.

Buntinx currently serves as senior vice president of Styrolution’s organisational unit, Global Focus Industries and research and development, and will retain this responsibility in his new role.

Pierre Minguet will fill a newly created position on Styrolution’s management board as president of operations, effective from 1 March. He currently serves as senior vice president, EMEA manufacturing.

Following implementation of these changes, Styrolution’s management board will comprise the following individuals: Kevin McQuade (chief executive), Christoph de la Camp (chief financial officer), Steve Harrington (president, Global Styrene Monomer and Asia Pacific), Rob Buntinx (president, EMEA), Alexander Gluck (president, Americas), Pierre Minguet (president, Operations).

Styrolution chief executive Kevin McQuade said: "I would like to thank HT for his valuable contribution to the success of Styrolution and his many years of dedicated service to the industry. "Steve and Rob will be strong promoters of our Triple Shift growth strategy in their regions, which is to drive even greater growth in specialties and ABS Standard, our focus industries, and emerging markets.

"I also have the same confidence that Pierre will be instrumental in further sharpening our technology and manufacturing excellence programs globally. At Styrolution, we are fortunate to have leaders who not only possess the expertise and drive to produce results but are also highly regarded internally and by their peers."

As MRC wrote before, Styrolution, the global leader in styrenics, has recently launched a pilot styrene-butadiene copolymer (SBC) plant in Antwerp. The new plant will produce all of Styrolution"s SBC grades and includes capabilities for the processing of other polymer types.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia’s Oil Ministry has allocated an additional 10m cbf/d (2.8m cbm) of ethane to Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co (Al Jubail / Saudi Arabia) to enable an expansion of capacity at its Al Jubail complex, said Plasteurope.

The company plans to widen its ethylene production by at least 93,000 t/y and its ethylene oxide capacity by 61,000 t/y from the second quarter of 2017.

With the increased ethane supply, Saudi Kayan – majority-owned by petrochemicals giant Sabic (Riyadh) and Al Kayan Petrochemical – will be able to reduce its dependence on butane gas feedstock. Also as part of the agreement, Sabic will lower the marketing fees it charges Saudi Kayan, saving the company SAR 280m (USD 74.6m) in 2015 and SAR 600m a year once the projects are completed.

As MRC wrote earlier, Saudi Kayan, Sadara Chemical and Saudi Acrylic Acid Company (SAAC) have joined forces to establish a new company, which will build the first butanol plant in the Middle East and the largest in the world. The Saudi Butanol Company, which will produce butanol to support the growth of the paints and coatings industry in Saudi Arabia, will be located at Tasnee Petrochemicals Complex in Jubail Industrial City and operated by Tasnee.

Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company is a manufacturing affiliate of the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic).MRC