Industry: Specialty chemicals

Chemical industry summary The recently completed first quarter financial results reported for US chemical companies indicated year-over-year revenue growth and solid, if not record-setting margins for many commodity chemicals. Earnings were generally flat from last year’s Q1 levels, except for those companies leveraged to the commodities titanium dioxide and methanol, and to a lesser extent […]

Chemical industry summary The 6-month anniversary of OPEC’s decision to limit crude oil production will occur at the end of May, and the decision to re-authorize production cut targets is pending. The current news flow prompts many analysts to anticipate that the production cut targets will remain in place in 2017, perhaps extended to 9 […]

Chemical industry summary The Q4 earnings reporting season is now more than halfway complete and reported earnings for US companies have either been near expected levels or have demonstrated some upside versus consensus estimates. Many companies are reporting positive earnings momentum and express cautious optimism for 2017 based on macro trends. While there is a […]

Chemical industry summary  The Q4 earnings reporting season will be in full bloom by the final week in January. While Q4 results will likely represent a mixed bag of year-on-year financial performance, the consensus is for 2017 to show improvement in key economic drivers and industry prices and volumes. Earnings growth estimates for US companies […]

Chemical industry summary The US political election in November resulted in an outcome that was not predicted by most polls, with Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump winning a majority of the electoral college vote and becoming president elect. This election has widespread ramifications for the US chemical and energy industries, as important branches of […]

Chemical industry summary Global prices and trade for the major polyolefins reflect a reasonable balance of supply and demand that has been supported by a number of global outages, planned and unplanned, particularly in North America. Improved global growth will be required to maintain strong demand growth and chemical operating rates as new capacity in […]

Chemical industry summary Consolidation of the global agricultural chemicals sector is continuing as a brisk pace. On September 14, Monsanto accepted Bayer’s takeover bid, valued at US$66 billion. This included a stock price of $128 per share and the assumption of US$10 billion in debt. The final bid follows two previous bids, and reported talks […]

Chemical industry summary The anticipated secular recovery of the global crude oil market appears to be faltering under the pressure of strong production output and sustained high inventory levels. In July, Saudi oil output rose 123,000 barrels per day to hit a level of 10.67 million bpd. Russian crude exports are up nearly 5% to […]

Chemical industry summary  With the Q2 earnings season in sight, financial analysts are forecasting flat year-on-year earnings results from any chemical companies, with a relative balance of puts and takes from last year’s performance. However, it is likely that industry leaders will note some encouraging signs on the horizon, with several industries seeing modest improvement […]

Chemical industry summary Recent news for global chemicals has been dominated by M&A. This week, Westlake Chemical announced that the board of its acquisition target Axiall has agreed to sell the company for the significantly improved offer of US$33 per share representing an enterprise value of US$3.8 billion. This valuation is a 31% increase from […]

Chemical industry summary The first quarter of the 2016 financial reporting season has been concluded with results generally consistent with forecasts. US-based paint and home supply companies generally reported improved results on a year-on-year basis, with high gross margins due to a benign raw material cost environment. Commodity chemical producers report softer year-on-year revenues but […]

Chemical industry summary Mergers and acquisitions and cost savings activities dominate the chemical industry as companies continue to grapple with shrinking demand and softening chemical margins. The proposed merger of US chemical giants DuPont and Dow Chemical appears to be proceeding well with minimal significant anti-trust issues. There are reports that BASF will make a […]