Deceuninck opens new plant in Croatia

MRC) -- Belgium-headquartered global manufacturer of PVC window, door and building solutions Deceuninck said it has opened a factory for laminating of PVC profiles in Donja Bistra, northern Croatia, following investment of almost 7 million euro (USD7.5 mln), said Seenews.

“This way, Deceuninck which so far operated at three different locations in Croatia, has brought in one place all the business processes - from warehousing and production, to management and administration,” the company said in a press release.

The new factory spreading on 17,000 square metres will ensure increased production capacity, improved efficiency and faster delivery to more than 500 partners in Europe.

Deceuninck also said it plans to add 40 employees to its current workforce of 160 people in Croatia by the end of the year. The company operates production facilities in 17 countries and delivers its products in 90 countries worldwide.

Last year, Deceuninck which has a total of 3,709 employees, reported a revenue of 974.1 million euro.

As MRC informed earlier, Deceuninck, a large international manufacturer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) systems for windows and doors, acquired the Turkish company Pimas, a manufacturer of PVC window profiles.

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MRC) -- India's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd plans to phase out fuel exports in the next two to three years as it expands its local retail network to diversify its sources of revenue, its managing director said, as per Reuters.

MRPL, a subsidiary of state-controlled Oil and Natural Gas Corp, operates a 300,000 barrel-per-day coastal refinery in southern Karnataka state, mostly supplying the state refiners that own about 90% of India's retail fuel stations and exporting the remainder.

Sanjay Varma told Reuters that MRPL plans to expand its retail outlets in southern India to 1800 by 2027 from about 71 now. "When refining margins are low (retailers) make a handsome profit because marketing margins are good. It gives a natural hedge if we have marketing margins," Varma said.

MRPL's exports, previously 2-3 cargoes each of diesel and jet fuel monthly, have suffered in the last six months as maintenance shutdowns at other refiners raised demand for its fuel. "Our plan is to go for zero exports as we would like to push volumes through our retail outlets," Varma said.

In the current fiscal year to March 31, MRPL aims to operate its refinery at about 107-108% capacity, down from 115% a year ago, with plans for a 35-40 day maintenance outage of a 60,000 bpd crude unit and secondary units from late August.

MRPL would cut crude imports from countries including Russia in August and September because of the outage, Varma said. "We don't want to carry a higher crude inventory level," he said, adding that MRPL did not plan to enter into a term contract for Russian oil as spot prices offered "more flexibility" to secure cheaper supplies.

MRPL in 2016 announced a plan to expand its refinery's capacity to 360,000 bpd. Given an expected rise in local demand for petrochemicals, it is now looking to set up an oil to chemical plant with a view to producing specialty chemicals and active pharma ingredients, Varma said. The company is aiming to have a detailed feasibility report in 6-7 months.

We remind, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has signed a six-month deal to supply BP with 80,000 tons of diesel per month from October, said two trade sources close to the matter. MRPL will supply diesel to BP for the Australian market at a premium of about USD1.40 a tonne for the six months, the sources said, with pricing based on the average of Argus and Platts' Mideast Gulf spot assessments of 10ppm sulphur gasoil.

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Altana AG (Wesel, Germany) said its electrical insulation materials subsidiary Elantas GmbH will acquire a total stake of 84.3% in Von Roll Holding AG (Breitenbach, Switzerland), said the company.

This follows a share purchase agreement with the Von Finck family and tender agreements with Von Roll Management for the acquisition of an 82.6% stake and as Von Roll Holding holds around 2% of its own shares, Elantas’s stake in the company will reach 84.3%, Altana said.

Meanwhile, Elantas and Von Roll Holding have announced a binding agreement under which Elantas will make a public offer to acquire all publicly held shares of Von Roll Holding for CHF0.86 net per share in cash, Altana said. The offer price corresponds to the purchase price agreed with the Von Finck family for each share and represents a premium of 8.9% over the volume-weighted average price of the last 60 trading days and of 10.3% to the closing price of Von Roll Holding shares on Aug. 10, 2023, according to Altana.

The transaction is expected to be completed in November 2023, Altana said. Subsequently, Von Roll will be delisted from the SIX Swiss Exchange, it said.

We remind, Altana is acquiring the business of TLS Technik GmbH & Co. Spezialpulver KG, an internationally leading manufacturer of metal powders for 3D printing, and thus strategically expanding its ECKART division.

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There has been a surge in interest in recycled plastics from carmakers, particularly European ones, said Amiplastics.

Major car companies and Tier 1 suppliers have been working with partners in the plastics recycling sector in their sustainability programmes.

Audi, BMW and other European groups are pursuing projects to widen the use of recycled plastics, spurred by the European Commission’s plans for a 25% recycled plastics content target in the revision of the EU’s End-of-Life Vehicles Directive.

As per MRC, the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) has released an official analysis on the impact of the International Monetary Fund’s 2023 economic growth revision on the global plastics trade, authored by PLASTICS Chief Economist, Dr. Perc Pineda.

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The Board of Directors of Westlake Corporation declared a regular dividend distribution of 50.00 cents per share for the second quarter of 2023, an increase of approximately 40% from the 35.70 cents per share of the first quarter of 2023, said the company.

This dividend will be payable on September 12, 2023, to stockholders of record on August 25, 2023. “The significant increase in our dividend reflects the strong cash generative business model as we have continued our growth at Westlake,” said Albert Chao, president and chief executive officer of Westlake. “Our Investments in differentiated and specialty products in our Performance and Essential Material (PEM) segment and leading market positions in downstream building products in our Housing and Infrastructure Products (HIP) segment has enhanced the stability of our earnings profile, while our globally advantaged low-cost position provides strong cash generation throughout the business cycle. Alongside our conservatively positioned, strong investment grade balance sheet this supports a meaningfully higher dividend level while continuing to provide us significant capacity to invest in our business to drive long-term shareholder return."

This is the 76th successive quarterly dividend that Westlake has declared since completing its initial public offering in August 2004.

We remind, Westlake's Performance and Essential Materials (PEM) income from operations for 2Q 2023 of USD215 mln decreased by USD750 mln from 2Q 2022 income from operations of USD965 mln. PEM's segment operating margin declined from 31% in 2Q 2022 to 10% in 2Q 2023 and EBITDA margin decreased from 37% in 2Q 2022 to 20% in 2Q 2023. Sequentially, Performance and Essential Materials income from operations decreased by USD188 mln as compared to 1Q 2023.

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