Solvay (Brussels; www.solvay.com) said it plans to upgrade full-year guidance and deliver record second-quarter results well ahead of projections.

“The performance in the quarter was driven by both volume and pricing, helping to overcome variable cost inflation,” Solvay said.

It said it plans to raise the 2022 outlook when it publishes final quarterly figures on 28 July, adding that the upgrade will reflect its confidence in short-term trading momentum and potential risks from the macro-economic environment.

The planned revisions are to come two months after it had scaled up its guidance in May, announcing that underlying EBITDA would grow by “mid to high single-digits” versus the previous target of “mid-single-digits” (see Plasteurope.com of 25.05.2022 and 10.03.2022).

Preliminary figures showed second-quarter sales of around EUR 3.4 bn to EUR 3.5 bn, compared with EUR 2.456 bn during the same period last year.

The initial range is also above the average estimate of analysts' forecasts of EUR 3.099 bn, as collected by Vara Research (Frankfurt, Germany; www.vararesearch.de) and published on Solvay’s website.

Solvay said the quarterly underlying EBITDA is expected at EUR 855-865 mn, a level also significantly higher than the market consensus of EUR 683 mn and the EUR 602 mn Solvay posted in the prior-year quarter. Solvay did not disclose the preliminary figures for its three segments of materials, solutions, and chemicals but noted all contributed to the strong results.

Analysts say the two plastics-relevant segments, materials and chemicals, are expected to post second-quarter sales of EUR 858 mn and 1.05 bn respectively compared with the year-earlier EUR 711 mn and EUR 820 mn.

The consensus for EBITDA at the materials unit is EUR 254 mn, and EUR 265 mn for chemicals. Both figures would be higher on the year but are slightly lower when compared with Q1 2022.