Related: DuPont to split into three companies
Celanese Corp. posted sales and profit gains in 2023, but officials with the firm are cautious about 2024.
Full-year sales at Dallas-based Celanese were up 12 percent to $10.9 billion, with profit up 3 percent to $1.96 billion. Those improvements were connected to ongoing integration of the specialty plastics business that Celanese acquired from DuPont Co. in late 2022.
The profit improvement was achieved even as the firm's fourth-quarter profit dropped almost 9 percent to $701 million.
"In a challenging backdrop … our team decisively executed on hundreds of actions to reduce our costs, secure alternative volumes [and] align our production and inventory levels with demand," Chair and CEO Lori Ryerkerk said in a news release.
Celanese's Engineered Materials unit, including the acquired DuPont businesses, "faced challenging demand and competitive conditions throughout the year, which resulted in volume and pricing decreases," officials said.
They added the impact of demand weakness and prolonged destocking "was partially offset by growth in automotive and medical markets and alternative volume secured in other markets."
In the fourth quarter, pricing for EM products decreased due to "continued challenging competitive dynamics and product mix headwinds" in the Americas and Europe. Officials added volume was impacted, particularly in the acquired DuPont product lines, by year-end destocking in automotive and distribution in the Western Hemisphere that was partially offset by improvement in Asia.
Celanese acquired most of DuPont's Mobility & Materials unit in an $11 billion all-cash deal. The deal included Zytel and Rynite nylon, Crastin polybutylene terephthalate, Vamac and Hytrel elastomers, as well as other materials. The DuPont deal also encompassed 29 global manufacturing sites that employ around 5,000 in manufacturing, technical and commercial roles. Celanese already had ranked as the world's largest maker of acetal resins.
In October, Celanese announced the closing of nylon 6/6 and high-performance nylon resin units in Uentrop, Germany. Those units, which employ 170, had been acquired from DuPont. Officials said the closing was being done "to help optimize our production costs across our global network."
Celanese ended nylon 6/6 operations at Uentrop in early January and HPN polymerization in early February. The firm will continue to supply customers with Zytel-brand nylon 6/6 from manufacturing sites in Singapore; Richmond, Va.; and Washington, W. Va. Celanese will continue nylon compounding work at Uentrop.
Looking to 2024, Ryerkerk said early signs of demand improvement in certain products and end-markets "are insufficient to improve the overall sequential backdrop we see early in 2024."
"We expect to complete several major value creation projects in the first quarter which … will support a significant ramp in our earnings performance across the year," she added. Earnings for 2024 also should be improved by "recognition of lower costs flowing through our inventory."
On Wall Street, Celanese's stock price was up almost 1 percent to $150.30 in late trading Feb. 21.