DSM
Plastics activities bounce back in Q3, down year-on-year / Materials division sales volume off 6% / Annual growth in September
 Rough winds ahead for the company’s plastics division (Logo: DSM) |
The plastics-related materials division of Dutch chemicals group DSM (Heerlen; www.dsm.com) improved strongly in the third quarter versus the April-June period, but the effects of the coronavirus pandemic took a toll on the results when measured against the same timeframe in 2019.
The engineering materials subsegment of the division saw a recovery in sales volume in the third quarter, particularly towards the end. Within the protective materials subsegment, the level of new orders in personal protection activities slowly gained ground after large contracts were postponed in the second quarter.
The resins and functional materials subsegment, which the company reclassified to “discontinued operations” following the October announcement of a sale of the assets, experienced continued improvement in demand as volume expanded 4%; adjusted EBITDA slumped 13% year-on-year (see Plasteurope.com of 06.10.2020)
The materials division itself showed an uptick in volumes, but the effects of Covid-19 and foreign exchange swings crimped sales and adjusted EBITDA, respectively, by 17% to EUR 362m and 31% to EUR 62m. Lower operating costs provided a small benefit, with the quarterly adjusted EBITDA margin rising to 17.1% from 12.6% in Q2, but falling from 20.7% in Q3 2019.
Quarterly sales volume at the materials division slid 6% year-on-year, but annual growth of September volumes was slightly positive, driven by restocking and higher demand. Significant uncertainty over market conditions nonetheless persists due to the resurgence of the coronavirus in the past few weeks, DSM said.
DSM announced that effective 1 January 2021, the engineering materials operations will reorganise the European distribution network for its technopolymers, with Resinex (Arendonk / Belgium; www.resinex.com) as the global distributor throughout Europe, flanked by Nexeo Plastics (The Woodlands, Texas / USA; www.nexeoplastics.com) for a cluster of countries including France, Scandinavia and Russia. Resinex is supported by TER Plastics (Herten / Germany; www.terplastics.com) for another group of countries that include Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and those in Central-Eastern Europe.
The engineering materials subsegment of the division saw a recovery in sales volume in the third quarter, particularly towards the end. Within the protective materials subsegment, the level of new orders in personal protection activities slowly gained ground after large contracts were postponed in the second quarter.
The resins and functional materials subsegment, which the company reclassified to “discontinued operations” following the October announcement of a sale of the assets, experienced continued improvement in demand as volume expanded 4%; adjusted EBITDA slumped 13% year-on-year (see Plasteurope.com of 06.10.2020)
The materials division itself showed an uptick in volumes, but the effects of Covid-19 and foreign exchange swings crimped sales and adjusted EBITDA, respectively, by 17% to EUR 362m and 31% to EUR 62m. Lower operating costs provided a small benefit, with the quarterly adjusted EBITDA margin rising to 17.1% from 12.6% in Q2, but falling from 20.7% in Q3 2019.
Quarterly sales volume at the materials division slid 6% year-on-year, but annual growth of September volumes was slightly positive, driven by restocking and higher demand. Significant uncertainty over market conditions nonetheless persists due to the resurgence of the coronavirus in the past few weeks, DSM said.
DSM announced that effective 1 January 2021, the engineering materials operations will reorganise the European distribution network for its technopolymers, with Resinex (Arendonk / Belgium; www.resinex.com) as the global distributor throughout Europe, flanked by Nexeo Plastics (The Woodlands, Texas / USA; www.nexeoplastics.com) for a cluster of countries including France, Scandinavia and Russia. Resinex is supported by TER Plastics (Herten / Germany; www.terplastics.com) for another group of countries that include Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and those in Central-Eastern Europe.
08.12.2020 Plasteurope.com [246495-0]
Published on 08.12.2020
German version of this article...