Starting with a clean financial slate following its emergence from US Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings at the end of April 2010 – see Plasteurope.com of 04.05.2010 and 27.04.2010 – polyolefins giant LyondellBasell (HQ: Rotterdam / The Netherlands; www.lyondellbasell.com) reported EBITDAR (earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, and restructuring) of just over USD 4 bn for the full year. This was a turnaround of 80% against 2009, the last full year under Chapter 11. Net profit totalled USD 10.2 bn after a loss of USD 2.9 bn. Group sales showed a gain of 33% to USD 41.2 bn. Although “early in the economic recovery phase,” the 2010 performance showed the polyolefins giant’s earnings and cash generation potential, said CEO Jim Gallogly. He noted, however, that Q4, marked by the repayment of USD 1.2 bn in debt, seasonally lower volumes and margins in the oxyfuels and polyolefins businesses as well as rising olefins feedstock costs in Europe, showed some earnings weakness compared with the mid-year level – see Plasteurope.com of 19.08.2010. Moving into 2011, he said chemical and polyolefin prices in Europe are adjusting to increased naphtha costs, with the US olefins business continuing to reap the benefits of using ethane-based feedstock.

While business conditions and results improved across the “vast majority” of LyondellBasell’s portfolio in 2010, the group said its full-year performance was driven in particular by the Americas-based olefins and polyolefins business. Thanks in part to “improved worldwide demand and industry supply disruptions,” the unit Olefins & Polyolefins Americas was able to improve both volumes and margins and achieved a turnaround of 131% in EBITDAR to USD 1.7 bn. EBITDAR of the unit Olefins & Polyolefins Europe, Asia, International increased by 140% year-on-year to USD 818m. The performance of the largely Europe-based business was undoubtedly affected by the higher cost of feedstock procurement, as former unit vice manger Anton deVries outlined last year in an interview with Plasteurope.com – see Plasteurope.com of 20.05.2010.

Margins also were influenced by last autumn’s labour dispute in France. LyondellBasell’s Technology unit, which bundles proceeds from its substantial process licensing business, reported a decrease in income for 2010. This was attributed to lower licensing intake, which the group said could be “only partially offset” by higher catalyst sales. EBITDAR of the business shrank to USD 212m from USD 309m.

e-Service:
LyondellBasell release on Q4 and full-year 2010 figures as a PDF document and slides from earnings presentation as a PDF document