Arkema reports strong second quarter results

Colombes, France – Arkema recorded excellent earnings growth in the second quarter, notably with EBITDA up 67 percent compared to 2020 and above the pre-crisis level of 2019. This performance was driven by specialty materials, which benefited from strong demand for innovative, sustainable materials and from its unique positioning to support global megatrends.

Group sales of €2.4 billion, up 34.6 percent versus 2020 and up 12.1 percent versus 2019 at constant scope and currency were reported.

EBITDA of €478 million, up 67.1 percent compared to the second quarter of 2020, and a historically high EBITDA margin of 20.0 percent were reported.

Adjusted net income was up almost threefold to €267 million, representing €3.50 per share.

Following Arkema’s board of directors meeting held on July 28 to approve the group’s consolidated financial statements for the first half of 2021, Chairman and CEO Thierry Le Hénaff said:

“Arkema’s employees can be proud of the performance achieved in the second quarter and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank them warmly for their contribution. We expected the results to be significantly above 2020 levels. But very sharply outperforming 2019, particularly in Specialty Materials, is a great achievement that positions us perfectly on our trajectory to 2024. This performance fully confirms the validity of our strategy of sustainable growth and transformation towards innovative, high-performance materials.

In a fast-changing world full of opportunities, we firmly believe in the strength of our project, which is the product of our teams’ unwavering commitment since many years, enabling us to support in a unique manner our customers address the major challenges of sustainable development.

Our technologies, the partnerships we forge with our customers, our geographical footprint and our financial flexibility are all valuable assets that will contribute both to speeding up our organic growth via high-quality industrial projects and to strengthening our Specialty Materials through bolt-on acquisitions.

We’re more confident than ever in our potential to create value and enthusiastic about growth opportunities notably in such areas as lightweight and bio-based materials, batteries, hydrogen, 3D printing, technical adhesives and more environmentally friendly paints. Raising our guidance for the second time this year is a reflection of this confidence.”