Plastics group Covestro (Leverkusen, Germany; www.covestro.com) has been unable to move out of the red in the initial months of the year. After last year’s shortfall of EUR 272 mn, the German company is reckoning with a loss of EUR 30 mn for the first quarter of 2023 (Q1 2022: profit of EUR 416 mn) on the basis of provisional figures. This is a better performance than expected by analysts, who had predicted a loss of EUR 77 mn on average. The same holds true for the EBITDA. The provisional figure is EUR 286 mn, which is 65% below the previous year’s figure but considerably higher than the company’s own forecast of EUR 100 mn to EUR 150 mn and the analysts’ consensus estimate of EUR 158 mn.

Outgoing CFO Thomas Toepfer attributes the better-than-expected results to the cost-cutting measures. There were no positive stimuli from the market – quite the contrary. “Demand in the first quarter still ran at a low level,” Toepfer said. This had an impact on sales, which fell 16% to EUR 3.74 bn and thus failed to meet the analysts’ consensus (EUR 3.94 bn). Covestro is publishing its full quarterly report on 28 April.

In the meantime, the group is moving ahead with its restructuring. On 3 April, at the start of the second quarter, the group completed the sale of its additive manufacturing (3D printing) business to Stratasys (Eden Prairie, Minnesota, USA; www.stratasys.com). The sales price was some EUR 43 mn and further payments of up to EUR 37 mn are possible if various success parameters are met. The transaction includes employees, R&D facilities, and offices in Europe, the USA, and Asia, which Covestro acquired in 2021 when it took over DSM’s Resins & Functional Materials business unit.