Cabot upbeat over full year outlook as sales grow

Boston, Massachusetts – Cabot Corp. remains upbeat about its full year outlook as year-on-year sales volumes continue to grow across various segment. 

Reinforcement materials segment, which manufactures carbon black materials, saw a 3.4% decline in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to $85 million during the first quarter of 2022, ended 31 Dec 2021. 

Segment sales, however, was up 44% at $541 million during the quarter, helped by increased demand in Asia, Cabot announced 31 Jan.

The US materials supplier linked the decrease in earnings to higher costs associated with utilities and maintenance.

The costs, it said, were largely offset by increased volumes and improved unit margins. 

Higher volumes were driven by demand increases in the Asia region compared to the same quarter last year as replacement and off-the-road tire demand was strong.

In Europe, however, volumes dropped 10% compared to last year, while demand remained unchanged in Americas. 

“We are very pleased with our first quarter results, and we feel good about the outlook for the fiscal year,” said president and CEO Sean Keohane

“Looking ahead to the remainder of 2022, reinforcement materials will benefit from the calendar year 2022 customer agreements,” he added.

Cabot, Keohane said, successfully concluded 2022 tire customer negotiations and was “very pleased about the outcomes, having realised pricing increases in all regions.”

According to the official, Cabot expects demand to improve across all key product lines in the second quarter of the year. 

Profitability, he went on to say, is expected to increase “largely due to the benefit from our 2022 customer agreements” and "volume growth in line with regional demand."