The Urethane Blog
January 19, 2023
Covestro names new president and chairman for US operations
In This Article
By Paul J. Gough – Reporter, Pittsburgh Business Times
Jan 18, 2023
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Covestro LLC has named Samir Hifri as chairman and president leading the company’s U.S. operations and replacing the retiring Haakan Jonsson on July 1.
Covestro, with its U.S. headquarters off the Parkway West, has 2,800 employees in the United States.
Hifri, a graduate of Duquesne University, joined Covestro in 1998 as a commercial trainee at the headquarters in Pittsburgh. He is now SVP and managing director of Covestro Hong Kong and leads the Asia Pacific Supply Chain & Logistics company for the polymers manufacturer. He has worked at 10 sites and six countries for Covestro over the past more than two decades.
“With his passion for people, deep knowledge of Covestro’s global business and strong ties to America, Samir is well suited to lead the U.S. organization into the future,” said Covestro CFO Thomas Toepfer.
Jonsson joined Covestro in 1992 and became chairman and president in January 2020. He has also integrated the DSM resins and functional materials acquisition into Covestro and started the Covestro Circular Economy Program at the University of Pittsburgh. He is a C-Suite Award winner from the Pittsburgh Business Times in 2022.
“Haakan steered the U.S. organization through one of the most challenging and transformative periods in our history, while continuing to foster a more diverse, inclusive and innovative culture,” Toepfer said.
January 18, 2023
BASF Group releases preliminary figures for full year 2022
- Expected sales of €87,327 million and expected EBIT before special items of €6,878 million at the level of average analyst estimates
- EBIT expected to be €6,548 million, below analyst consensus due to non-cash-effective impairments
- Net income expected to be –€1,376 million due to non-cash-effective impairments on the shareholding in Wintershall Dea, below analyst consensus
Ludwigshafen – January 17, 2023 – BASF has released preliminary figures for the full year 2022. Expected sales of €87,327 million and expected income from operations (EBIT) before special items of €6,878 million are in line with the ranges forecast by BASF and at the level of average analyst estimates for 2022.
The BASF Group’s EBIT amounted to an expected €6,548 million in 2022, below the figure for the prior year (2021: €7,677 million) and below analyst consensus for 2022 (Vara: €6,836 million). This includes non-cash-effective impairments on a plant in the Chemicals segment.
Net income of BASF Group is expected to amount to –€1,376 million in 2022. This is considerably below the prior-year figure (2021: €5,523 million) and the average analyst estimates for 2022 (Vara: €4,768 million). Net income contains non-cash-effective impairments on the shareholding in Wintershall Dea AG in the amount of about €7.3 billion, of which €5.4 billion in Q4 2022. These impairments result in particular from the deconsolidation of the Russian exploration and production activities of Wintershall Dea due to the extensive loss of actual influence and economic expropriation. Wintershall Dea intends to fully exit Russia in an orderly manner complying with all applicable legal obligations. Accordingly, the Russian participations of Wintershall Dea have been re-evaluated and write-downs on the European gas transportation business have been made, including a complete write-down on the participation in Nord Stream AG.
Sales rose by 11 percent in 2022 to an expected €87,327 million (2021: €78,598 million) and were thus in line with the €86 billion to €89 billion range forecast by BASF. The average analyst estimates for sales 2022 of the BASF Group were €87,950 million according to Vara. The increase in sales was mainly driven by higher prices and positive currency effects. Volumes reduced sales.
EBIT before special items amounted to an expected €6,878 million, a decrease of €890 million compared with the prior year (2021: €7,768 million) and in line with the €6.8 billion to €7.2 billion range forecast by BASF. On average analysts had expected EBIT before special items of €6,949 million in 2022 according to Vara.
The average analyst estimates for EBIT before special items of the segments were exceeded in 2022 by Agricultural Solutions and Surface Technologies. EBIT before special items of Materials and Industrial Solutions almost matched average analyst estimates. EBIT before special items fell short of average analyst estimates in the Nutrition & Care and Chemicals segments. In Other, EBIT before special items was better than expected by analysts on average.
January 17, 2023
High-frequency truckload data suggests the freight market is stabilizing
Craig Fuller, CEO at FreightWaves
· Monday, January 16, 2023
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Did the first quarter lull come early, in November and December of 2022?
For carriers, the first quarter is always the most difficult period in the annual freight calendar, when retailers clear their excess holiday inventory, construction takes a pause for the frigid weather and everything is gloomy and cold. The soft first quarter often follows a robust fourth quarter, in which freight companies enjoy the annual peak season and make an outsized portion of their profits. Carriers look forward to spring for some market stability and potential market accelerations.
Is it possible that winter came early this year? Did the freight winter start in November and now we are experiencing an early thaw?
Early freight data and channel checks would suggest the freight market could be stabilizing and clearer skies are ahead.
Over the past week, we’ve spoken with numerous freight executives who have mentioned that the first two weeks of the first quarter are shaping up better than expected, granted, expectations were incredibly low after such a weak peak.
Going into the quarter, executives we spoke with predicted a significant collapse in freight for the first quarter, with a seasoned veteran executive of a large trucking technology firm predicting that the first quarter would be the worst in his four-decade career. It was a fair bet considering how challenging the second half of the 2022 was for most in the freight market.
Truckload spot rates, according to the FreightWaves National Truckload Index, hit a low of $1.67 on Nov. 17, 2022, and have since bounced back to $1.98 per mile.
Trucking tender volumes also suggest that the direst of predictions have not played out. Tender volumes on the Outbound Tender Volume Index (OTVI), an index that tracks the volumes of load requests from shippers to carriers, show that volumes briefly dipped below 2019 and 2020 levels, but they have since broken away from this baseline.
If the first few weeks of the new year are an early omen, then the freight market may have bottomed in the fourth quarter and carriers can look forward to a far less volatile market in 2023.
Interested in being the first to know about the changes in the global freight market so that you can prepare your business for market changes before your competitors? All of the data in this article is available via subscription to SONAR, the world’s leading high-frequency data platform.
January 17, 2023
PRESS RELEASE: January 9, 2023 (Lawrenceville, Georgia)
SuperSkinSystems (a Division of American Polymers Corp.)
The owners of American Polymers Corp. would like to announce appointments of Dr. Mahesh
Kotnis as the new President of SuperSkinSystems (a division of American Polymers) and of Stuart
Smith as Vice President of SuperSkinSystems.
SuperSkinSystems is a strategic bolt-on acquisition for the American Polymers Corp adding new
technology platforms and increasing its geographic footprint in the United States. Leveraging our
manufacturing capabilities, R&D resources, and our expansive network of valued partners, we are
in a strong position to scale SuperSkinSystems well proven innovative products used in high
performance coatings, elastomers, and specialty foams.
Dr. Mahesh Kotnis
Prior to joining American Polymers as Executive Vice President, Dr. Kotnis
worked in various senior leadership roles in multinational companies
such as Huntsman, Ciba Specialty Chemicals, and ICI Americas over the
last 30 years. He has a proven track record of building profitable
businesses and high performing teams which have delivered consistent
above-market growth in diverse economic conditions. Dr. Kotnis holds a
Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in Polymer
Science & Engineering.
“SuperSkinSystems business has grown multifold just in the first year of integration with American
Polymers. These results show the benefits of synergy from American Polymers and that
opportunities for growth are abundant. We are moving to a new site four times bigger than the old
site providing a strategic location in the South East United States for American Polymers and all
affiliate companies.” – Dr. Mahesh Kotnis
Stuart Smith
Stuart has been a scientist, innovator, and entrepreneur over the last 40
years in the polyurethanes industry. He cofounded SuperSkinSystems in 2010.
Stuart holds a B.S. in Plastics Technology from the University of
Massachusetts at Lowell and has been awarded more than 50 U.S. patents
in polyurethane, epoxy, polyurea materials.
January 16, 2023
Judge to rule on United Furniture’s bankruptcy
A federal judge will rule Wednesday on whether to approve the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection motion of United Furniture Industries Inc.
Judge Selene Maddox conducted Friday a hearing on United’s Chapter 11 motion which would focus foremost on how the sale of its assets would be handled.
Maddox chose not to address the Chapter 7 liquidating motion filed Jan. 6 by Wells Fargo & Co., United’s largest creditor.
Maddox took Friday’s presentations “under advisement,” pending issuing a bench ruling at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Maddox also chose to reset Wells Fargo’s motion for an interim bankruptcy trustee pending a ruling on the United motion.
The United motions are the company’s first formal legal response since it unexpectedly shut down on Nov. 22.
The shutdown immediately ended the employment and health insurance benefits of about 530 Triad workers and about 2,700 overall in three states.
Wells Fargo claims United’s motion “is an exercise in revisionist history” and only benefits the manufacturer’s majority owner, David Belford.
Wells Fargo said in a Dec. 30 court filing requesting the Chapter 7 liquidation of United that it is owed $99.21 million in secured debt.
However, the bank acknowledged it “estimates that any recoveries from liquidation of (United’s) collateral will result in a recovery equal to a fraction of this amount.”
United made promotional- to mid-priced upholstered furniture in the U.S. under its brand and the Lane Home Furnishings brand. The manufacturer also imported wooden bedroom and dining furniture.
Wells Fargo has pulled no punches in its court filings.
It claims United has performed post-shutdown “various instances of conduct found to establish a lack of integrity,” “gross mismanagement,” “ongoing incompetence,” and “conflicts of interest” involving Belford, and “lack of credibility and creditor confidence.”
Belford made the decision to shut down United.
United claims Wells Fargo’s motion for an interim trustee was filed “solely to hinder the company’s liquidation plan” and that “there is zero proof whatsoever of fraud, dishonesty or gross management” by United’s owner, board of directors or executive team.
United said it hired Kimberly Harper as chief financial officer on Dec. 1 to lead its attempt to “wind down the company … to preserve the company’s assets, prevent loss to the estate and develop a strategy to maximize the company’s value to all stakeholders.”
Those steps involve Harper negotiating with creditors and handling human resources issues. United cited the hiring of a chief restructuring officer and an outside general counsel.
As such, United claimed that the Wells Fargo motion for an interim trustee is unnecessary.
More salacious info here: https://nypost.com/2023/01/04/united-furniture-lenders-reveal-chaos-surrounding-2700-layoffs/
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