Company News
August 18, 2020
Epoxy Comments from Olin Investors’ Call
Olin Corporation (OLN) CEO John Fischer on Q2 2020 Results – Earnings Call Transcript
John Fischer
Thank you, Steve, and good morning, everyone. I hope you and your families are keeping safe and healthy during these challenging times. Olin shared our second quarter results last night. We’ll keep our remarks this morning to a minimum in favor of addressing your specific questions. And I’ll start on slide three. COVID-19 related demand losses were first seen in our chemical portfolio in March. The demand impact continued through early June before showing signs of recovery. During the second quarter of 2020, Olin experienced significantly lower customer demand, partially driven by inventory reductions. Consequently, second quarter sales for the combined Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls and Epoxy businesses declined by approximately 27% year-over-year.
Weakness in demand was compounded by two large planned maintenance turnarounds that took place early in the quarter. These included a one in every three-year vinyl chloride monomer turnaround and one in every five-year Freeport at the chlor-alkali turnaround. As a result, April and May were Olin’s weakest volume months in the Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls business. Overall, Olin’s Chemical business’s sales increased each month during the quarter from the April low point. Olin’s July sales levels have continued the improvement trend by exceeding June levels. As a further point of reference, the majority of our second quarter adjusted EBITDA was generated in June as maintenance turnarounds were completed and volumes improved.
Olin has addressed the lower customer demand by extending maintenance outages where practical and temporarily idling Chlor Alkali and Epoxy assets. Today, we have one Chlor Alkali plant undergoing an extended maintenance turnaround, and we plan to continue to temporarily idle plants to minimize operating costs. Third quarter 2020 will benefit from improved volumes, lower maintenance turnaround costs and higher product prices compared to the second quarter. We are forecasting third quarter 2020 adjusted EBITDA that is more than double second quarter 2020 levels. Let’s now turn to slide four. The most significantly impacted end uses for our products include automotive, aerospace, construction and oil and gas.
Chlorine demand from urethane and isocyanates customers represented our largest volume decline during the second quarter, and that demand outlook still remains challenged. Chlorine sold into titanium dioxide, which helped strong through the first quarter, began to weaken during April and is now below historic trends. Hydrochloric acid demand and pricing is well below typical levels, also reflecting the weakness in the oil and gas sector. Weakness in global vinyls demand contributed to Olin’s second quarter ethylene dichloride pricing decline of approximately 50% from first quarter levels. We have seen Olin’s chloride ethylene dichloride pricing improved during the third quarter.
Our second quarter Epoxy resin volumes decreased by approximately 30%, both sequentially and year-over-year across both in Europe and North America impacted by weak customer demand for automotive, Industrial coatings, and oil and gas. We’re now one month into the third quarter and have seen an increase in vinyls and isocyanate demand and a slower paced recovery in resins and urethanes. On the caustic side, inorganic end uses are recovering, while several grades of pulp and paper demand are still showing signs of weakness. Now let’s take a closer look at caustic soda pricing, which is on slide five. As chlorine operating rates slowed in the second quarter, caustic soda availability tightened and domestic caustic soda price indices rose $70 per ton.
Kevin McCarthy
I see. That’s helpful. And then I had a second question on the Epoxy business. Benzene and propylene, I suppose, have been quite volatile in recent months. So if you take into account the inventory flow through effects of those important raw materials. How do you think your margins might trend moving forward into the third quarter versus the second quarter?
Pat Dawson
Kevin, this is Pat. You’re right. They have been very volatile. We saw the big fall off here in the second quarter. And I would say that, that’s benefiting us here late. It benefited us a little bit late in the second quarter, and it will benefit us in the first half of the third quarter. However, you’ve seen hydrocarbons now start to kick up, both benzene and propylene. And that’s the reason why we’ve got price increases out there right now in the third quarter. So it’s kind of where we see it, there’s a lot of volatility.
August 17, 2020
Casper Update
Casper Scares Off Investors as Suppliers Can’t Keep Up With Demand
Investing.comAugust 11, 2020
By Christiana Sciaudone
Investing.com — Casper Sleep Inc (NYSE:CSPR) dropped 7% after it said Covid-19-related constraints were hindering product delivery.
The mattress maker went public in February at $12 a share, and the stock hasn’t yet climbed back up to that level.
Casper’s loss per share of 61 cents beat the 76-cent estimate on sales of $110 million, which came in higher than the forecasted $104 million. Direct-to-consumer sales increased 5%, which was partially offset by the loss of sales in retail stores.
“Certain of our suppliers and logistics providers have temporarily experienced supply constraints or labor shortages due to the COVID-19 outbreak,” the company said in a statement. “As a result, we have been impacted by industry-wide capacity constraints which have led to increased delivery times for certain of our products through our e-commerce platform and impacted order fulfillment capabilities for certain of our retail partners.”
The company is “actively qualifying and on-boarding new suppliers” and expects inventory constraints to ease within the upcoming quarter.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/casper-scares-off-investors-suppliers-123320471.html
August 17, 2020
Casper Update
Casper Scares Off Investors as Suppliers Can’t Keep Up With Demand
Investing.comAugust 11, 2020
By Christiana Sciaudone
Investing.com — Casper Sleep Inc (NYSE:CSPR) dropped 7% after it said Covid-19-related constraints were hindering product delivery.
The mattress maker went public in February at $12 a share, and the stock hasn’t yet climbed back up to that level.
Casper’s loss per share of 61 cents beat the 76-cent estimate on sales of $110 million, which came in higher than the forecasted $104 million. Direct-to-consumer sales increased 5%, which was partially offset by the loss of sales in retail stores.
“Certain of our suppliers and logistics providers have temporarily experienced supply constraints or labor shortages due to the COVID-19 outbreak,” the company said in a statement. “As a result, we have been impacted by industry-wide capacity constraints which have led to increased delivery times for certain of our products through our e-commerce platform and impacted order fulfillment capabilities for certain of our retail partners.”
The company is “actively qualifying and on-boarding new suppliers” and expects inventory constraints to ease within the upcoming quarter.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/casper-scares-off-investors-suppliers-123320471.html
August 17, 2020
MLILY Expands Into Arizona
Chinese mattress maker leases manufacturing facility in Goodyear
In This Article
- CRE Brokerages Topic
- Colliers International Company
- Commercial Real Estate Industry
- First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. Company
- Manufacturing Industry
By Corina Vanek – Reporter, Phoenix Business Journal Aug 13, 2020, 3:48pm EDT
MLILY, a mattress and memory foam product manufacturer, has leased 643,798 square feet of industrial space in Goodyear for a manufacturing facility, where it aims to employ 300 people.
The company, which is a venture of China-based Healthcare Co., leased space at First Park at PV303, at 3350 N. Cotton Lane, which is under construction and will come online in late 2020. MLILY will lease the entire building for a 10-year term and will take occupancy of the space in mid-December.
Payson MacWilliam, Don MacWilliam, and Chris Reese with Colliers International in Phoenix partnered with Yang Chen in the Colliers International San Francisco office in representing MLILY.
The property is owned by Chicago-based First Industrial Realty Trust Inc.
“By manufacturing in Arizona, MLILY can continue to provide high quality products at a lower cost to U.S. consumers, while expanding its global footprint,” Yang Chen, managing director, Asia Pacific Division with Colliers International in San Francisco said in a statement.
The company makes mattresses, mattress toppers, bases and pillows. The company has factories in China, Thailand, Serbia and the United States.
“MLILY is entering Arizona with this sizable manufacturing facility, which reflects the continued appeal of our industrial marketplace,” Colliers’ Payson MacWilliam said in a statement. “The fundamentals of our pro-business environment attracted this international corporation to Phoenix, which will augment its existing U.S. presence in South Carolina.”
August 17, 2020
MLILY Expands Into Arizona
Chinese mattress maker leases manufacturing facility in Goodyear
In This Article
- CRE Brokerages Topic
- Colliers International Company
- Commercial Real Estate Industry
- First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. Company
- Manufacturing Industry
By Corina Vanek – Reporter, Phoenix Business Journal Aug 13, 2020, 3:48pm EDT
MLILY, a mattress and memory foam product manufacturer, has leased 643,798 square feet of industrial space in Goodyear for a manufacturing facility, where it aims to employ 300 people.
The company, which is a venture of China-based Healthcare Co., leased space at First Park at PV303, at 3350 N. Cotton Lane, which is under construction and will come online in late 2020. MLILY will lease the entire building for a 10-year term and will take occupancy of the space in mid-December.
Payson MacWilliam, Don MacWilliam, and Chris Reese with Colliers International in Phoenix partnered with Yang Chen in the Colliers International San Francisco office in representing MLILY.
The property is owned by Chicago-based First Industrial Realty Trust Inc.
“By manufacturing in Arizona, MLILY can continue to provide high quality products at a lower cost to U.S. consumers, while expanding its global footprint,” Yang Chen, managing director, Asia Pacific Division with Colliers International in San Francisco said in a statement.
The company makes mattresses, mattress toppers, bases and pillows. The company has factories in China, Thailand, Serbia and the United States.
“MLILY is entering Arizona with this sizable manufacturing facility, which reflects the continued appeal of our industrial marketplace,” Colliers’ Payson MacWilliam said in a statement. “The fundamentals of our pro-business environment attracted this international corporation to Phoenix, which will augment its existing U.S. presence in South Carolina.”
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