Belgiums Solvay hikes 2022 profit forecast after 1st quarter beat

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpReuters – Solvay SA on Wednesday raised its fullyear core profit forecast after the Belgian chemicals group reported higherthanexpected firstquarter earnings, helped by price increases and volume growth.p

pThe group, which makes lithium derivatives for batteries, now expects its fullyear underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization EBITDA to grow by mid to highsingle digits, after it had previously forecast midsingle digit percentage growth.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

p“The critical and differentiated solutions that we provide to our customers enabled us to increase prices and more than compensate for the sharp cost increases in raw materials and energy,” Chief Executive Officer Ilham Kadri said in a statement.p

pSolvay, which in March suspended its businesses and investments in Russia, said revenue from Russian activities represented less than 1 of the groups sales last year, and that the suspension had little impact.p

p“We have certainly much more than compensated for that through the growth in our businesses,” Chief Financial Officer Karim Hajjar told Reuters.p

pAsked whether the company was planning to sell all or part of its Russian businesses, Kadri said no decision had been made on that front.p

pSolvay, which estimates between 5 and 10 of its gas may originate indirectly from Russia, said it was looking at other options, such as switching to alternative fuels.p

p“We are negotiating gas containment plans with industrial partners. We are going ahead with some key projects like LNG liquid natural gas pipeline contracting,” Kadri said in a phone interview.p

pSolvay announced in March that it would separate into two independent public companies in 2023, one focused on chemicals and the other on specialty materials and solutions.p

p“For now, the timeline is confirmed and we are making progress since the announcements we did,” the CEO said, adding that the reaction from investors has been “very positive”.p

pSolvay, whose products range from base chemicals such as soda ash to speciality polymers, reported firstquarter EBITDA up 22.1 from a year earlier to 712 million euros 749.24 million, above a companyprovided consensus of 605 million euros.p

pNet sales in the January to March quarter were up 28.8 at 3.06 billion euros, beating a companyprovided consensus of 2.76 billion euros.