Chemours has recently announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2019.
“Our results for 2019 reflect a challenging year on several fronts, including TiO2 destocking, the continued impact of illegal imports of HFC refrigerants into Europe, and operational challenges, offset to some extent by record results in Chemical Solutions,” said President and CEO Mark Vergnano. “The Chemours Team delivered a solid fourth quarter, including finishing the year strong with $169 million of Free Cash Flow. After a slow start, we began to build some momentum in the second half across several of our core products and end markets. At the same time, we continued our efforts to focus the portfolio with the acquisition of Southern Ionics Minerals and the divestiture of our Methylamines and Methylamides business.”
Full-year 2019 net sales were $5.5 billion versus $6.6 billion in 2018, reflecting lower prices and volume across all businesses.Ā Currency was a 1 percent negative impact on a year-over-year basis. Full-year 2019 adjusted net income was $419 million and diluted adjusted earnings per share for 2019 was $2.51. Adjusted EBITDA for 2019 was $1.02 billion.
Fourth quarter 2019 net sales were $1.4 billion in comparison to $1.5 billion in the prior year. Results were driven primarily by lower volume and price in Fluoroproducts and Titanium Technologies. FourthĀ quarter net income was $(317) million, or $(1.94) per diluted share, inclusive of a $380 million non-cash charge related to the settlement of the non-active portion of our Netherlands Pension Plan obligations and transfer of liabilities to a third-party asset management firm, and a $132 million charge related to onsite remediation at our Fayetteville site. Adjusted net income was $92 million, or $0.56 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter 2019 was $227 million in comparison to $341 million in the previous year’s fourth quarter due to headwinds in Titanium Technologies and Fluoroproducts which were partially offset by record performance of the Chemical Solutions segment.
Fluoroproducts
Fluoroproducts segment sales for 2019 were $2.6 billion, a 7 percent decrease in comparison to the prior-year. Lower volumes and prices were driven by weakness in the automotive and electronics markets and the continued impact of illegal imports of HFC refrigerants into the EU.
Lower cost from the Corpus Christi Opteonā¢ site startup was more than offset by impact of lower F-Gas quota sales, operational issues and lower average price of refrigerants.Ā These factors contributed to segment Adjusted EBITDA of $578 million in 2019 as compared to $783 million in 2018.
Fluoroproducts segment sales in the fourth quarter were $614 million in comparison to $649 million in the prior-year quarter. Segment Adjusted EBITDA of $117 million declined 29 percent versus the prior-year quarter, primarily due to lower F-Gas quota sales, operational issues communicated in the previous quarter and lower net sales.
