- Sales close to last year’s level at €2,254 million (€2,270 million in 2Q’18)
- Resilient EBITDA at €407 million, compared with the record performance of second-quarter 2018 (€430 million) in a more challenging macroeconomic environment
- Very solid EBITDA margin of 18.1%
- Adjusted net income of €192 million, representing 8.5% of sales
- Very strong cash generation, with free cash flow increasing to €90 million (€41 million in 2Q’18)
- Net debt at €1,308 million including the €190 million dividend payment, representing 0.9 times EBITDA of the last 12 months. €400 million of hybrid bonds refinanced under favorable conditions
- Continued strengthening of the High Performance Materials division, with the acquisition of ArrMaz (announced in May 2019), Prochimir and Lambson (July 2019) and the capacity extension of Sartomer in China for the electronics and 3D printing markets (April 2019)
Arkema’s Board of Directors met on 31 July 2019 to close the Group’s consolidated financial statements for the first half of 2019. Commenting these results, Chairman and CEO Thierry Le Hénaff highlighted the following points:
“In the second quarter, Arkema continued to demonstrate its resilience in an environment which remains volatile and complex, marked by the weakness of certain end-markets. Our performance, close to the record highs of last year, was driven in particular by the very solid performance of our specialty businesses supported by our teams’ excellent work on prices and margins, allowing us to offset the decline in volumes. Adhesives continued to make notable progress, in line with our strong ambition in this business. Moreover, we continue to generate a high level of cash.
Over the past few months, we also continued to roll out our long-term strategy focused on three pillars, namely organic projects with strong profitability, innovation to support our customers and bolt-on acquisitions generating a high level of synergies. We notably continued to increase the share of specialties in our portfolio of businesses with the acquisitions of ArrMaz, Prochimir and Lambson, which illustrate our capacity to seize opportunities to acquire cutting-edge technologies in attractive and still fragmented markets.
In view of these results and projects dynamic, while remaining attentive to the economic environment, we are confident in our ability to achieve another good year and pursue Arkema’s transformation.”
Outlook for 2019
In the second half of the year, the macroeconomic environment is expected to remain volatile and complex, marked by continued geopolitical uncertainties, which are weighing on global demand and raw material volatility. However, the inventory adjustments observed in the first half of the year in certain end-markets are expected to ease. In this context, Arkema will maintain its focus on internal momentum and the implementation of its long-term strategy.
The Group will therefore continue to roll out its industrial projects, its innovation drive for sustainable development and mobility, and its targeted acquisition dynamic. In the second half of the year, the Group should, in particular, benefit from the start-up of certain industrial projects in Sartomer resins in Asia, technical polymers in France and acrylics in the United States, as well as the contribution from the acquisition of ArrMaz, finalized on 1 July, and of Sunke, which is due to be completed in the third quarter of the year. The Group will also continue to implement its operational excellence initiatives and its policy of selectively raising selling prices in a context of still high oil prices.
While remaining attentive to the development of the macroeconomic environment, Arkema confirms its ambition to consolidate its financial performance at high levels and to achieve in 2019* an EBITDA comparable with the 2018 record level.
Further details on the Group’s second-quarter 2019 results and outlook are provided in the „Second quarter 2019 results“ presentation available on Arkema’s website at www.finance.arkema.com.
*2019 takes into account the new IFRS 16 standard.
Quelle: Arkema
