Chemours Co. — the spinoff of DuPont Co.'s Performance Chemicals unit — enjoyed a solid first day as a separate public company, with its per-share stock price rising more than 3 percent.
Trading under the CC symbol, Wilmington, Del.-based Chemours opened at $16 per share on July 1 and closed at $16.50. It remained near that level in early trading July 2.
Chemours officials had rung the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on June 29. The firm is a global leader in titanium dioxide — a common plastics whitener — and fluoropolymers, including those sold under the Teflon brand name.
“We think of Chemours as a 200-hundred-year-old start-up,” President and CEO Mark Vergnano said in a July 1 news release. “We bring to the market a rich heritage based on our DuPont legacy and built on industry leadership and innovation adding the energy and agility of a customer-centered, global business fresh out of the starting gate.”
Performance chemicals had struggled in recent years for DuPont, and officials believed the unit would have better growth opportunities as a public company. For full-year 2014, Performance Chemicals reported sales of $6.5 billion, down 6 percent from 2013, and operating earnings of $934 million, down 8 percent. Based on 2014 sales, the unit was the second largest of DuPont's seven reporting units.
Wilmington-based DuPont is keeping its performance materials business, which includes nylon and other specialty resins.