Chemical giants such as BASF and Dow are in a cold winter!

Recently, various chemical giants have released their results for the second quarter of 2020. Affected by the coronavirus epidemic, most companies have declined in revenue and performance, and net sales of some companies have fallen by more than 40% year-on-year.

BASF

Affected by the new crown epidemic in the second quarter, market demand weakened, and EBIT, excluding special items, declined:
Sales: 12.7 billion euros (-12%), mainly affected by various lockdown measures during the epidemic.
Earnings before interest and taxes excluding special items: 226 million euros (-77%).
Net income: negative 878 million euros, mainly due to impairment of Wintershall Dea's equity investment (no cash flow impact).
Cash flow from operating activities: 2.2 billion euros (+296 million euros compared to the same period last year); free cash flow: 1.5 billion euros (+551 million euros compared to the same period last year).

Dow

Net sales in the second quarter were US$8.4 billion, a decrease of 24% from the same period last year. The reason was that the new crown virus (COVID-19) severely affected performance, and both local prices and sales fell.
Compared with the same period last year, local prices fell by 14%, and this mainly reflected the decline in global energy prices. Changes in exchange rates reduced sales by 1%.
Sales were down 9% from the same period last year. Demand for food packaging, health and hygiene, home care and pharmaceutical applications has grown, but to some extent it has been offset by the weakness in the end market for durable goods. It is worth noting that with the restart of the Chinese economy, the company's sales in the Asia-Pacific region increased by 3% year-on-year and 13% month-on-month.
The GAAP net loss from continuing operations was US$217 million. Operating profit before interest and taxes (EBIT) was 57 million USD, down from 1.1 billion USD in the same period last year.

Wacker Chemie

Sales achieved in the second quarter were 1.0724 billion euros (the second quarter of 2019: 1.268.5 billion euros), a decrease of 15% from the previous year. Sales were down 10% compared to the previous quarter (1,197.5 million euros).
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) realized in the second quarter was 105.4 million euros, a 50% decrease from the same period last year (210.7 million euros). The Group’s profit before interest and taxes (EBIT) during the reporting period was 1.8 million euros (the second quarter of 2019: 70.7 million euros), a decrease of 98% year-on-year, the EBIT margin was 0.2% (the second quarter of 2019: 5.6%), and EBIT This is a significant decrease compared to the first quarter of 2020 (69.8 million euros).
The main reason for the decline in performance was the decrease in product sales and the decrease in the average price of solar polysilicon and standard organic silicon products. The decline in raw material and energy costs has a positive impact on performance. Compared with the previous quarter (174.1 million euros), EBITDA fell by 39%. WACKER Group’s EBITDA margin in the second quarter of 2020 was 9.8% (Q2 2019: 16.6%), compared to 14.5% in the previous quarter.

Shell

The net loss in the second quarter was US$18.13 billion, including a write-down of US$16.8 billion in assets to reflect the decline in oil and natural gas prices.
The company warned at the end of June that it is expected to reflect a write-down of $15 billion to $22 billion in its second-quarter results. After deducting one-off items, the company’s profit for the quarter based on the current cost of supply (CCS) was US$638 million, a decrease of 82% from US$3.46 billion in the same period last year.

Covestro

The second quarter:
Core business sales fell by 22.7%
Group sales total approximately 2.2 billion euros
Achieve EBITDA 125 million euros
Net profit is negative 52 million euros
Free operating cash flow rises to 24 million euros

Clariant

In the first half of 2020, in local currency, sales from continuing operations fell by 5% to 1.945 billion Swiss francs.
The EBITDA margin before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization increased to 15.0%, and the operating performance in the first half of 2019 was 14.9%.
The group's overall net profit increased to 90 million Swiss francs, and operating cash flow was 89 million Swiss francs.

Solvay

Transaction data in the second quarter showed that the permanent closure of two composite materials plants in response to the 2019 coronavirus disease also caused the company's profits to drop a lot.
A non-cash impairment charge was also announced. Businesses related to oil, gas, automobiles, and aerospace were the most affected, with revenues falling by about 40%, while businesses related to construction and mining fell by about 20%.
Other key markets such as healthcare, agriculture/food, household personal care, and electronic products maintained good conditions and offset some negative market effects. An impairment review is currently underway, which may result in non-cash impairment charges of approximately 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion).

Huntsman

The net loss in the second quarter was US$59 million, compared with the net income of US$118 million in the same period last year; the loss per share in the second quarter was US$0.28, while the diluted earnings per share in the same period last year was US$0.47.
The adjusted net loss was US$30 million, while the adjusted net income of the same period last year was US$108 million; the adjusted loss per share was US$0.14, while the diluted earnings per share for the same period last year was US$0.47.
Adjusted EBITDA was 54 million U.S. dollars, compared with 245 million U.S. dollars in the same period last year; net cash provided by operating activities was 85 million U.S. dollars; free cash flow from continuing operations was 30 million U.S. dollars, continuing operations The resulting adjusted free cash flow was $38 million.

Arkema

Sales in the second quarter were 1.9 billion euros, a decrease of 15.6% year-on-year (sales in the first half of 2020 decreased by 10.7%).
EBITDA was EUR 286 million (EUR 407 million in the second quarter of 2019), and the EBITDA margin was 15%.
The adjusted net income was 90 million euros (192 million euros in the second quarter of 2019).

Total Group

The second quarter still recorded cash flow of US$3.6 billion, and adjusted net profit remained positive. The board of directors of the group decided to maintain the interim dividend for the second quarter at 0.66 euros per share.
The net loss attributable to shareholders in the second quarter was $8.4 billion. On July 29, Total announced that it had written down its oil and gas assets by US$8.1 billion. The company also stated that its average refining profit margin in the second quarter fell to the lowest level in six years. The variable costs of European refineries The profit margin fell to 14.30 US dollars / ton (about 1.95 US dollars / barrel). While the impact of the epidemic continues, CEO Patrick Pouyanne pointed out in a speech at the end of May that the total refinery’s capacity this year is expected to reach 70%, which is 15% lower than the 2019 average. “This will affect refining. Cash flow."

PPG

Net sales in the second quarter were US$3 billion, a decrease of 25% from the same period last year, and a decrease of about 22% based on the exchange rate unchanged. Sales prices increased by nearly 2% year-on-year, and total sales fell by about 24% compared with the same period last year.

Akzo Nobel

Sales revenue in the second quarter was 1.987 billion euros, a year-on-year decrease of 19%, and a decrease of 17% at a constant exchange rate, mainly due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic. Adjusted operating profit was 238 million euros, down 22% year-on-year; operating profit was 207 million euros, down 33% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders was 129 million euros, down 44.16% year-on-year.
In the first half of 2020, sales revenue was 4.045 billion euros (approximately US$4.549 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 13%, a decrease of 11% at a constant exchange rate, a 2% increase in positive price/product mix, and a 12% decrease in sales; adjustments Later EBITDA was 623 million euros, a decrease of 3% year-on-year; operating profit was 394 million euros, a year-on-year decrease of 6%. Net profit from continuing operations was 244 million euros, a year-on-year decrease of 13%. Net profit attributable to shareholders was 243 million euros, a year-on-year decrease of 18%.
The semi-annual report shows that the adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations was 1.51 euros, an increase of 8% year-on-year. As of June 30, 2020, net debt was 1.683 billion euros (2019: 62 million euros), mainly due to the stock repurchase program and dividends paid. In addition, as of the end of the second quarter of 2020, the group has 33,200 employees, a year-on-year decrease of 1,300 people.

Axalta

Net sales in the second quarter were US$652.7 million, a year-on-year decrease of 43.6%. The total operating loss was US$64.5 million, and the profit in the second quarter of 2019 was US$157.9 million.
In the second quarter, Axalta's high-performance coatings division net sales were US$482.1 million, a year-on-year decrease of 36.3%. Net sales of decorative coatings fell by 41.4% to US$261.9 million (excluding foreign currencies, which fell by 38.7%). Net sales of industrial coatings fell by 28.8% to US$220.2 million (excluding the impact of foreign exchange and mergers and acquisitions, a decline of 23.2%), of which sales fell by more than 20%, but the global average price and product structure were basically stable.