Materials maker Avient Corp. posted improved sales and profit totals in the second quarter of 2022.
Sales for the quarter at Avon Lake, Ohio-based Avient were up 5 percent to $1.3 billion when compared to the same quarter in 2021. The firm's quarterly profit was up 22 percent to $84.7 million in the same comparison.
"Overall, we are pleased with our performance as we have been able to overcome a number of continuing challenges including inflation, supply chain disruptions, extended lockdowns in China and the war in Ukraine," Chairman, President and CEO Robert Patterson said in a news release.
"We have been on a multi-year journey to transform our portfolio and become a premier formulator of specialty and sustainable solutions," he added. "Our recent performance demonstrates the resiliency of our portfolio during challenging times."
Avient is on track to complete its $1.5 billion acquisition of DSM's Protective Materials business in September. That deal will include all of DSM's protective materials work, including Dyneema, an ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene and the world's strongest human-made fiber. The DSM unit is expected to post sales of $415 million this year.
Avient officials also "are encouraged by the level of interest we have received from several potential buyers" for its resin distribution unit, which had sales of a little more than $1.6 billion in 2021. Avient announced both the DSM deal and the planned distribution sale in April.
In the second quarter, sales at Avient's color, additives and inks unit were up 4 percent to $649.1 million, with operating profit up 8 percent to $93.6 million. Second-quarter sales at the firm's specialty engineered materials unit were up about 1 percent to $243.9 million, with operating profit down 2 percent to $36.6 million.
Avient's distribution unit saw second-quarter sales grow 10 percent to $443.2 million, with operating profit up 14 percent to $27.1 million. The unit distributes resin and compounds for 21 suppliers, including Dow Inc., BASF SE and LyondellBasell Industries.
Looking ahead, Chief Financial Officer Jamie Beggs said Avient "expects demand in Asia to improve from the prior quarter and growth to continue in the Americas, offsetting softening conditions in Europe and weaker foreign exchange."
On Wall Street, Avient's per-share stock price was up 1.5 percent to almost $43.70 in early trading July 26. It remains down about 23 percent from the start of the year.
Avient is one of the world's largest concentrate makers and one of North America's largest compounders and resin distributors. The firm employs more than 8,000 worldwide and posted total sales of $4.8 billion in full-year 2021.