PolyOne Declares Force Majeure on Shipments From SunBelt Chlor Alkali Partnership

CLEVELAND, Sept. 18  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PolyOne Corporation (NYSE: POL), a premier global provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions, along with Olin Corporation, declared a force majeure for caustic soda shipments from the SunBelt Chlor Alkali Partnership ("SunBelt") plant located in McIntosh, Alabama until further notice.  The force majeure was declared primarily due to the continuing effects of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which caused SunBelt to temporarily shut down because it has no orders for chlorine due to a force majeure declaration by Oxy Vinyls, LP, SunBelt's sole chlorine customer, and caused Union Pacific Railroad to declare an embargo on chlorine shipments to all areas between Dayton, Texas and Brownsville, Texas. The impacted Oxy Vinyls, LP facility is located in La Porte, TX, which is within the area for which Union Pacific Railroad declared an embargo.

About PolyOne

PolyOne Corporation, with annual revenues of more than $2.7 billion, is a premier provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions. Headquartered outside of Cleveland, Ohio USA, PolyOne has operations around the world. For additional information on PolyOne, visit our new Web site at http://www.polyone.com/.

Forward-looking Statements

In this press release, statements that are not reported financial results or other historical information are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements give current expectations or forecasts of future events and are not guarantees of future performance. They are based on management's expectations that involve a number of business risks and uncertainties, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historic or current facts. They use words such as "will," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe," and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance and/or sales. In particular, these include statements relating to future actions; future performance; results of current and anticipated market conditions and market strategies; and financial results. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to:

  -- the effect on foreign operations of currency fluctuations, tariffs,
     nationalization, exchange controls, limitations on foreign investment
     in local businesses and other political, economic and regulatory risks;
  -- changes in polymer consumption growth rates within the U.S., Europe or
     Asia or other countries where PolyOne conducts business;
  -- changes in global industry capacity or in the rate at which anticipated
     changes in industry capacity come online in the polyvinyl chloride
     (PVC), chlor-alkali, vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) or other industries
     in which PolyOne participates;
  -- fluctuations in raw material prices, quality and supply and in energy
     prices and supply, in particular fluctuations outside the normal range
     of industry cycles;
  -- production outages or material costs associated with scheduled or
     unscheduled maintenance programs;
  -- the cost of compliance with environmental laws and regulations,
     including any increased cost of complying with new or revised laws and
     regulations;
  -- unanticipated developments that could occur with respect to
     contingencies such as litigation and environmental matters, including
     any developments that would require any increase in our costs and/or
     reserves for such contingencies;
  -- an inability to achieve or delays in achieving or achievement of less
     than the anticipated financial benefit from initiatives related to
     PolyOne's specialization strategy, operational excellence initiatives,
     cost reductions and employee productivity goals;
  -- an inability to raise or sustain prices for products or services;
  -- an inability to maintain appropriate relations with unions and
     employees in certain locations in order to avoid business disruptions;
  -- any change in any agreements with product suppliers to PolyOne
     Distribution that prohibits PolyOne from continuing to distribute a
     supplier's products to customers;
  -- the possibility that the degradation in the North American residential
     construction market is more severe than anticipated;
  -- PolyOne's ability to realize anticipated savings and operational
     benefits from its realigning of assets, including those related to
     closure of certain production facilities; and
  -- other factors affecting our business beyond our control, including,
     without limitation, changes in the general economy, changes in interest
     rates and changes in the rate of inflation.




We cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will be realized, although we believe we have been prudent in our plans and assumptions. Achievement of future results is subject to risks, uncertainties and inaccurate assumptions. Should known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove inaccurate, actual results could vary materially from those anticipated, estimated or projected. Investors should bear this in mind as they consider forward-looking statements.

We undertake no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. You are advised, however, to consult any further disclosures we make on related subjects in our reports on Forms 10-Q, 8-K and 10-K furnished to the SEC. You should understand that it is not possible to predict or identify all risk factors. Consequently, you should not consider any such list to be a complete set of all potential risks or uncertainties. 

DATASOURCE: PolyOne Corporation



CONTACT: Robert M. Patterson, Senior Vice President & Chief Financial

Officer, PolyOne Corp., [phone], 



Web site:  http://www.polyone.com/ 

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