A strong year for materials firms in 2021

Three major materials firms reported strong full-year financial results for 2021 this week.

LyondellBasell Industries of Houston saw full-year sales jump almost 67 percent to $46.2 billion, with 2021 profit at $5.6 billion, four times its 2020 level.

The firm's Olefins & Polyolefins-Americas unit, including polyethylene and polypropylene resins, saw sales for the year more than double to $15 billion, with operating profit up almost four times to $4.6 billion.

LBI's Advanced Polymer Systems unit, North America's largest plastics compounder, posted sales for the year of $5.1 billion, up almost 31 percent, and operating profit of $286 million, up more than 26 percent.

In a news release, interim CEO Ken Lane said that LBI "achieved record profitability in 2021 supported by robust demand, tight markets and the company's recent growth investments." He added that the firm's profit margins "reached all-time highs across many of LyondellBasell's businesses despite global supply chain disruptions and the spread of new COVID variants."

Eastman Chemical Co. of Kingsport, Tenn., saw its 2021 sales grow more than 23 percent to $10.5 billion. The firm's profit also surged 77 percent to $867 million.

Eastman's Advanced Materials unit, including Tritan-brand copolyester, posted sales of just over $3 billion in 2021, up more than 20 percent. The unit's earnings before interest and taxes also grew more than 21 percent to $519 million for the year.

"Eastman made tremendous progress in 2021, delivering record sales revenue and adjusted [earnings per share] for the year," CEO and Chairman Mark Costa said in a news release. "We are continuing to leverage our innovation-driven growth model to grow faster than our end markets."

At Dallas-based Celanese Corp., sales for 2021 were up almost 51 percent to a little more than $8.5 billion, even as the firm's profit declined 5 percent to $1.9 billion.

Celanese's Engineered Materials unit, including the world's largest acetals business, posted sales of $2.7 billion, up more than 28 percent, and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of $571 million, up more than 41 percent.

"I thank our teams for the commitment and agility they demonstrated in what was an exceptionally volatile year," CEO and Chairman Lori Ryerkerk said.

CEOs at all three firms also addressed their outlooks for 2022.

"With forecasts for above-average GDP growth in 2022, we expect continued strength in demand for our products," LyondellBasell's Lane said. "Supply chain disruptions and virus surges have been restraining pent-up consumer demand across the global economy.

"As vaccinations facilitate a more sustainable global reopening and supply chains normalize, LyondellBasell's businesses should benefit from increased demand for both goods and services," he added.

At Eastman, Costa said that in 2022 officials "expect market demand to remain strong and continue growing faster than our end markets. … We also expect to benefit from a substantially lower cost structure as we continue to implement our operations transformation program and have substantially lower manufacturing maintenance costs."

For Celanese, Ryerkerk said that "the early 2022 order book reflects continued strong demand for our products across most end markets."

"The persistent inflationary and volatile supply chain backdrop remains our greatest challenge," she added. "Our record 2021 performance demonstrates the ability of our employees and business models to preserve our profitability amid inflation."