Solvay 4Q Beat Expectations as Higher Pricing Overcame Rising Inflationary Costs

   By Ed Frankl 
 

Solvay SA said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter earnings and revenue rose, beating expectations as higher pricing kept up with rising energy, raw-material and supply-chain costs.

The Belgian chemicals company said net profit in the three months to the end of December was 250 million euros ($283 million) compared with EUR96 million in the same period in 2020.

Solvay posted revenue of EUR2.70 billion, up 22% on year, as increased volumes reflected growing momentum in key markets including the automotive and electronics sectors, the company said.

Those results beat expectations of net profit of EUR176 million and sales of EUR2.52 billion, according to consensus compiled by the company.

The Brussels-based company said it took an impact of EUR465 million from energy, raw-material and supply-chain cost inflation in 2021, including EUR260 million in the fourth quarter alone, but that it was largely offset by an acceleration of price increases.

Free cash flow in the quarter, however, ticked down to EUR149 million from EUR155 million a year earlier.

Solvay added that it would propose a dividend of EUR3.85 a share to shareholders, up from EUR3.75 last year.

In its new 2022 guidance, the company said full-year earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization would grow organically by mid-single digits in the year and free cash flow would exceed EUR650 million.

Write to Ed Frankl at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 23, 2022 01:14 ET (06:14 GMT)

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