Issue 15/2020 - 【Performance of Chemical Giants】

BASF's sales fell by 12 percent to €12.
7 billion in the second quarter.
This was mainly due to an 11% decline in
volume.
Selling prices decreased by 1%, mainly due to
lower prices for upstream chemicals.
EBIT before special items amounted to €226 million, down 77 percent
from Q2 2019.
Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) declined by 88% year-on-year to EUR
59 million.
Net income was -EUR 878 million, compared to almost EUR 6 billion in the second quarter of 2019
.
Due to the high degree of uncertainty and difficult to visualize the economic situation, BASF is still unable to specify
the development of sales and earnings for the full year 2020.
Partly affected by relatively low market demand in August and the seasonal cycle of the Agricultural Solutions business, BASF does not expect EBIT before special items to improve
significantly in the third quarter compared to the second quarter.

Dow Inc.
reported a net loss of $225 million in the second quarter, compared to a net income of $75 million
in the year-ago quarter.
This is the company's first quarterly loss
since it was spun off from a consortium at DowDuPont and operated independently last year.
Revenue of $8.
3 billion decreased 24%
year-over-year.
Its consumer durables and building materials businesses have been hit hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic
.
Total product sales in a single quarter fell by 9%.

The market price of the company's products also fell by 14%
due to the sharp drop in oil and gas prices.
Dow expects that the company's revenue in the third quarter of this year can reach 8.
5 billion ~ 9 billion US dollars
.
Dow CEO Jim Fitterling said it could take years to bring sales and profits back to pre-pandemic levels
.
The company plans to cut operating expenses by $150 million this year, while rolling out a restructuring program aimed at improving the company's profit level, which is expected to add $300 million to the company's profit
by the end of next year.

Covestro's core volumes declined by 22.
7 percent in the second quarter, totaling around €2.
2 billion, down 32.
9 percent year-on-year, to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of €125 million and net income of -€52 million
.
Free operating cash flow rose to €
24 million.
The coronavirus pandemic had a significant impact on
the results of the first half of 2020.
In the first half of the year, the company's core business sales volume decreased by 13.
6% year-on-year, and Group sales decreased by 22.
7% to approximately EUR 4.
9 billion (prior-year: EUR 6.
4 billion).

This was mainly due
to lower total sales volumes and lower selling price levels.
As a result, EBITDA fell by 57.
9 percent to EUR 379 million and net profit amounted to EUR 32 million (prior-year: EUR 368 million).

Free operating cash flow declined to -€225 million in the first half of 2020 (previous year: minus €100 million).

Huntsman posted a net loss of $59 million in the second quarter, compared with net income of $118 million in the year-ago quarter, and adjusted EBITDA of $54 million, compared to $245 million
in the year-ago quarter.
Net cash from operating activities was $85 million
.
Free cash flow from continuing operations was $30 million and adjusted free cash flow from continuing operations was $38 million
for the second quarter of 2020.
The acquisition of CVC Thermoset Specialties was completed
on May 18, 2020.
The integration is still ongoing, and the company expects to achieve target annual synergies
of approximately $15 million by the end of 2021.
Including about $35 million in synergies related to the recent acquisition, the company said it aims to save more than $100 million
annually by the end of 2021.

AkzoNobel's sales in the second quarter of 2020 fell by 19% year-on-year (17% at constant exchange rates) and by 18% due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In terms of profit (operating income) and return on sales, which are the most important concerns, adjusted operating income was €238 million (2019: €305 million), return on sales was 12.
0% (2019: 12.
4% in the same period 2019), and return on sales excluding unapportioned costs rose to 14% (2019: 13.
7%)
。 Sales in the first half of the year were €4,045 million (2019: €4,636 million), down 13 percent, and adjusted operating income was €452 million (2019: €468 million), down 3 percent
.

Corning Corning reported second-quarter 2020 results, reporting $2.
6 billion
in revenue for the reporting period.
Compared to the first quarter, GAAP sales increased 7% and core sales increased 2%, with sales in the Specialty Materials Division increasing 13% year-over-year, driven by strong demand for high-end glass for products launched by customers in the second half of the year, demand for information technology products due to the trend of work-from-home learning, and demand
for semiconductor equipment products.
Higher volumes contributed to a 34%
year-over-year increase in net income.