Trinseo rubber business subdued as company trials NdBR production

Berwyn, Pennsylvania – Trinseo’s synthetic rubber unit continued to falter in the first quarter of 2016, as company results suggested on 4 May.

The US-based manufacturer of synthetic rubber posted a year-on-year, 21-percent drop in revenues, down to $102 million (€88.8 million).

The drop was mainly driven by the pass-through of lower raw material costs as well as lower sales volume.

According to the company, volumes of Nickel-PBR particularly dropped as the company decreased production in its transition to trial production of neodymium-PBR.

Adjusted earnings (EBITDA) of $23 million was $3 million below prior year - again primarily due to lower nickel-PBR sales volumes.

The company said its SSBR sales volume was at a record high during the quarter, forecasting an overall “higher” second quarter sales volume with the restart of nickel-PBR production.

The company’s latex revenue for the quarter also dropped 12 percent to $209 million.

Trinseo has attributed the drop to the pass-through of lower raw material costs, lower sales volume in Europe and North America, as well as currency effects.

Volumes were however higher in the Asian paper market, which Trinseo said offset some of the impacts.

The company’s adjusted EBITDA of $19 million was $2 million below prior year driven by lower margins in Asia.