Kickstart: Good news, bad news

Let's pretend you could go back in time to Jan. 1, and you had a chance to buy shares in a publicly traded plastics company that you thought might do well during the COVID pandemic. Which one would you choose?

Arkema SA might sound like a good bet. After all, the Colombes, France-based company is a big maker of acrylic resin and sheet, which is finding lots of new applications in shielding used to aid in social distancing. Acrylic dividers are literally popping up everywhere.

But Arkema shares are down about 17 percent from where they started the year. Not the overwhelming success you might have expected. How come? In a recent earnings call, an analyst asked what's going on with acrylic demand.

Chairman and CEO Thierry Le Hénaff explained that the company's acrylic sheet plants in France and the United States are busy, "but at the end of the day, in terms of impact on profitability, it's nice to have, but it's far from being sufficient to offset for the automotive group," which suffered from the global auto shutdown.

In fact, Arkema officials announced April 2 that they want out of acrylic resin and sheet and are reviewing options for the business. This sounds like an interesting stand-alone opportunity to me.

I've been watching the Chapter 11 filing of Exide Technologies LLC, a Milton, Ga.-based automotive battery maker, to see if it has an impact on the plastics market. Exide filed for protection from creditors on May 19 and is seeking court approval to sell its North American assets.

Exide both molds and recycles polypropylene battery cases. When it initially filed for Chapter 11, that triggered a slew of plant closure notices across the country. But the court-approved reorganization may give those plants a chance to stay open.

But it looks like we can't say the same thing for one plastics-related Exide supplier. In a letter dated June 1, Daramic LLC announced that it will close a battery separator plant in Corydon, Ind., putting 74 people out of work. The plant will close June 30.

In Exide's bankruptcy filing, it disclosed that it owes Daramic $3.1 million. Daramic, which has 10 global manufacturing plants, makes polyethylene and phenolic resin battery separators for the lead acid batteries. The company is owned by Japan's Asahi Kasei Corp.

Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, released a powerful statement on May 30 in response to racial unrest in Minnesota and across the country, following the death of George Floyd.

It read in part: "To be very clear, manufacturers in America do not condone violence or destruction of any kind. But we absolutely stand hand in hand with all those who seek respect, fairness and the right to equality of opportunity that America has promised for centuries and that, even now, has not been delivered to all her citizens.

"This is not a time to sit back and wait for action from others. It's not enough to say 'this doesn't concern me,' or 'this isn't my job, my cause, my fight.' The manufacturing community, and the larger business community — made up of people from every background, every race, every state and every neighborhood in the country — has a responsibility that is as urgent now as at any time when our nation seemed on the edge of destruction. We must be part of the solution — to end the polarization and division that routinely manifests in our country. We must bring our people together in common purpose, to strengthen the values that bind us together, to rebuild our communities, to reinstill faith in ourselves and to ensure that all of our citizens have a right to live safely and securely.

"If we fail, America will not endure. If we are to succeed, it must be together."

Let's close today's Kickstart with some good news: On May 29, the owner of American Melt Blown & Filtration Inc. in Rensselaer, Ind., announced plans to launch a new company to make N95 masks and other medical-grade supplies to aid in the COVID-19 response.

Owner Fred Geyer said the new company, Indiana Face Mask, will set up business in a now-vacant 25,360-square-foot building in Rensselaer and will create up to 14 new jobs. He expects the building to be operational this fall. At full capacity, he expects to manufacture 17 million N95, Class 1 and Class 3 surgical masks annually.