Orion earnings dip on hurricane, feedstock mix

Luxembourg - Orion Engineered Carbon has reported a decline in third-quarter earnings from its rubber carbon blacks business despite continued strong demand.

During the three months to 30 Sept, volumes declined by 5.1%, to 206.3 kilotonnes , compared to the same period last year.

The declines were due to the closure of our manufacturing facility in France, the impact of hurricane Harvey and the ongoing conversion of capacity in South Korea, said Orion.

Nevertheless, third quarter revenues from the rubber blacks unit increased 8.3% to €178.6 million compared to the third quarter of 2016

The gains were linked to pass-through of higher feedstock costs to customers on indexed price agreements, base price increases which offset the decline in volumes and negative foreign exchange rate translation effects.

Earnings (adjusted EBITDA) fell 9.1% year-on-year to €20.2 million, reflecting unfavourable feedstock mix, lower volumes partly related to hurricane Harvey and some negative foreign exchange rate translation impacts.