THE WOODLANDS, Texas, April 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ —

First quarter 2015 Highlights

• Adjusted EBITDA was $285 million compared to $329 million in the prior year period. The decrease was primarily attributable to an estimated adjusted EBITDA impact of approximately $60 million from a planned maintenance outage at our Port Neches, Texas facility, partially offset by earnings from the performance additives and titanium dioxide businesses that we acquired from Rockwood.
• Adjusted diluted income per share was $0.40 compared to $0.43 in the prior year period.
• Net income attributable to Huntsman Corporation (HUN) was $5 million compared to net income of $54 million in the prior year period.
• The stronger U.S. dollar reduced adjusted EBITDA by an estimated $17 million compared to the prior year period.

Huntsman Corporation today reported first quarter 2015 results with revenues of $2,589 million and adjusted EBITDA of $285 million. 

Peter R. Huntsman, our President and CEO, commented:

"I am pleased with the strong first quarter earnings demonstrated by our differentiated businesses which include MDI urethanes, Performance Products, Advanced Materials and Textile Effects.  EBITDA from these businesses improved approximately $30 million compared to the prior year.  We continue to see strength in the markets we are serving and are encouraged by future growth prospects.

Business conditions remain challenging in the titanium dioxide market; however I am encouraged that our earnings improved approximately $10 million compared to the fourth quarter.  We have taken aggressive self- help measures to deliver $175 million of expected incremental synergies and restructuring savings by the middle of 2016.  I see a clear path forward to an improvement in earnings within our Pigments and Additives business.

During the first quarter we completed planned maintenance at our PO/MTBE facility in Port Neches, Texas.  We experienced some delays in the restart of the facility during April.  We are currently operating at normal rates and estimate the EBITDA impact from the delayed startup to be approximately $35 million in the second quarter."

Segment Analysis for 1Q15 Compared to 1Q14

Polyurethanes

The decrease in revenues in our Polyurethanes division for the three months ended March 31, 2015 compared to the same period in 2014 was primarily due to a scheduled maintenance outage at our PO/MTBE facility in Port Neches, Texas in the first quarter of 2015.  MDI sales volumes increased due to improved demand in the Americas and European regions and across most major markets.  PO/MTBE sales volumes decreased due to the scheduled maintenance outage.  PO/MTBE average selling prices decreased following lower pricing for high octane gasoline.  MDI average selling prices decreased in response to lower raw material costs and the foreign currency exchange impact of a stronger U.S. dollar against major European currencies.  The decrease in Adjusted EBITDA was primarily due to lower PO/MTBE earnings, partially offset by higher MDI contribution margins.  We estimate the reduction to Adjusted EBITDA from the planned PO/MTBE maintenance outage to be approximately $60 million in the first quarter 2015.

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