Dallas, Texas 05/02/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – Chemtura Corp (NYSE:CHMT) which is a speciality chemicals manufacturer reported its 1Q and operational results on 30th April. The robust earnings update sent the stock into a frenzy as investors struggled to buy into the stock. As a result the share price jumped up by a hugely impressive 4.8 percent during trading on 1st May.
Highlights of the earnings report are as follows:
1Q net sales went up by 5 percent, while net earnings as per GAAP calculations came in at 10 cents per diluted share. The company also disclosed that the share repurchase program announced previously by the board of directors is proceeding in right earnest and has managed to return nearly $70 million to its share holders.
CEO Speak
Chemtura Corp (NYSE:CHMT) Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Craig A. Rogerson in his statements post the earnings call went on to list out the focus areas for the company in the next few quarters by stating that, “Our focus is now on our “pure play” specialty chemicals portfolio. Our goal remains to grow this portfolio to approximately $2.5 billion of revenues by 2016 and to expand Adjusted EBITDA margins so that they approach 20%, which in turn will deliver further substantial value to our shareholders. Industrial Performance Products and Chemtura AgroSolutions segments again delivered year-over-year improvement this quarter and Corporate expense was lower as we eliminated stranded costs,”
Next Steps For Agro Solutions Unit
The company management also explained the road ahead for its Chemtura AgroSolutions business. The CEO indicated that a internal evaluation has pegged the selling price of the business at $1 billion and indicated that they will be entering into a sale agreement with Platform Specialty Products to this effect. The firm hopes to return a major portion of the sale proceeds back to its investors after using part of the sale funds to retire debt ahead of schedule.
