Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), a world-class chemical producer, achieved a Core Profit after tax and non-controlling interests (NCI) of Baht 1.3 billion in 1Q16, a growth of 8% year on year (YoY) despite an almost full quarter shutdown of its ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol (EOEG) site in the USA for a catalyst change and unplanned maintenance. The site was fully online again by 15 April. The last twelve months (LTM) first quarter 2016 Core EBITDA saw growth of 13% to Baht 22.1 billion while Core Profit grew significantly by 43% to Baht 6.6 billion compared with the same period of 2015. The first quarter saw a non-cash inventory devaluation of Baht 0.5 billion (tax adjusted) as a result of a rapid fall in prices that was offset by net extraordinary income of Baht 3.3 billion, primarily coming from a gain on bargain purchase on the company’s acquisition of BP’s Alabama site and resulted in a reported net profit of Baht 4.1 billion
Group CEO, Mr. Aloke Lohia commented, “I am very pleased to see that we were able to outperform expectations even though a key plant in Texas was closed for most of the quarter. This shows that as we grow in strategic markets and become more diversified both globally and in terms of our portfolio, we become more accretive. Our portfolio will see an even higher boost in 2nd quarter 2016 with addition of BP's Decatur and Cepsa's Spain asset that will boost our integration and HVA business."
Mr. Lohia’s view of the business was that while North America had mixed results due to the EOEG shutdown, PET and HVA were still very strong performers. Asian PTA, which has suffered from oversupply for several years, has shown positive signs of recovery with Core EBITDA growth of 96% YoY. This was accompanied by a strong showing in the fibers business as core EBITDA for the segment rose 21% year-on-year, giving the company a very strong boost.
