First-quarter financial results of polyester specialist Eastman (Kingsport, Tennessee / USA; www.eastman.com) weakened as US-China trade issues weighed on demand for speciality products in China and Europe. Year-on-year, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), excluding one-offs eased 23% to USD 352m (EUR 314m), sales dwindled 9% to USD 2.38 bn and net income sank 28% to USD 209m.

There was an improvement quarter-on-quarter, with adjusted EBIT rising 28%. Eastman expects strong growth in second-quarter earnings compared with the first quarter given an increase in orders for March and April. Global economic difficulties would likely persist in the first half and, therefore, the company will take additional “aggressive” cost cuts. Eastman held on to its 2019 guidance for adjusted earnings per share growth of 6-10%.

Adjusted EBIT at the two plastics-relevant segments – Additives and Functional Products (AFP) and Advanced Materials (AM) – plummeted 16% to USD 150m and 26% to USD 102m, respectively, due to lower sales volumes and negative currency effects.

AFP revenues decreased 9% to USD 855m particularly for adhesives resins and tyre additives products. Headwinds also came from foreign currency exchange rates and lower selling prices, particularly for care chemicals due to cost pass-through contracts.

AM revenues tumbled 5% to USD 657m on the back of lower speciality plastics sales volume and unfavourable currency impacts. The lower speciality plastics sales volume was attributed to continued customer inventory destocking related to uncertainty caused by the US-China trade dispute. Performance films and advanced interlayers volume and product mix were relatively unchanged.