Latest news with #polymer
Globe and Mail
02-08-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Earnings Summary on Avient
Key Points Earnings per share (Non-GAAP) of $0.80 for Q2 2025 exceeded consensus estimates and rising 5%, while Revenue (GAAP) reached $866.5 million, up 2% year over year, including a 1% favorable impact from foreign exchange. operating income for this segment declined year over year These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires › Avient (NYSE:AVNT), a global provider of specialty polymer materials and solutions, reported results on August 1, 2025. Adjusted earnings per share (Non-GAAP) were $0.80, topping analyst expectations of $0.78 (non-GAAP). Revenue (GAAP) also beat estimates at $866.5 million, up from $849.7 million (GAAP) in Q2 2024. Avient's results marked its fifth straight quarter of organic revenue growth and included expanding adjusted EBITDA margins, solid cash generation, and continued progress on debt reduction. Management described the overall quarter as one with steady gains in high-margin segments, though with pockets of ongoing softness in key North American markets. Metric Q2 2025 Q2 2025 Estimate Q2 2024 Y/Y Change EPS (Non-GAAP) $0.80 $0.78 $0.76 5.3% EPS (GAAP) $0.57 $0.36 58.3 Revenue $866.5 million $852.87 million $849.7 million 2.0% Adjusted EBITDA Margin 17.2% 16.9% 0.3 pp Operating Income $96.1 million $72.5 million 32.6% Source: Analyst estimates provided by FactSet. Management expectations based on management's guidance, as provided in Q1 2025 earnings report. Business Overview and Recent Focus Avient operates in the specialty materials industry, supplying polymers, colorants, additives, and engineered thermoplastics. Its key end markets include packaging, healthcare (like medical device materials), defense, transportation, consumer goods, and energy. Innovation is central to Avient's approach. In 2024, it invested $98.7 million in research and development, supporting a technical workforce of around 1,100 employees, including more than 100 with doctoral degrees. The company's recent business focus has centered around expanding high-value applications and maintaining operational agility. Key priorities include strengthening its role in healthcare, defense, and sustainable materials, alongside ongoing cost control and productivity efforts. Avient considers its global manufacturing footprint and customer partnerships essential for winning new business and managing shifting regulations, tariffs, and supply chains. Quarterly Highlights: Performance and Trends During the period, Avient modestly exceeded both revenue and adjusted earnings per share expectations, with revenue (GAAP) of $866.5 million and adjusted EPS (non-GAAP) of $0.80 both surpassing analyst estimates. Net income attributable to shareholders (GAAP) was $52.6 million, up from $33.6 million (GAAP) in Q2 2024. Adjusted net income was $73.5 million, compared to $70.2 million in Q2 2024. Adjusted EBITDA was $148.9 million, boosting the associated adjusted EBITDA margin to 17.2%, an improvement of 0.3 percentage points in adjusted EBITDA margin. These gains came despite continued weak demand in sectors such as North American consumer and transportation markets. Avient's Color, Additives and Inks family, which produces specialty color and additive products for a range of everyday finished goods, reported sales of $538.6 million, down slightly from the prior year period. Despite this, the segment lifted operating income to $90.3 million Management credited this to resilient packaging demand, including double-digit growth in personal care applications in the first quarter and solid beverage packaging sales worldwide, particularly in Asia and Latin America. The Specialty Engineered Materials product family, which includes specialized plastics and additives for demanding applications such as medical supplies, new energy vehicles, and defense gear, posted a 7% rise in sales to $329.7 million compared to Q2 2024. However, operating income in the Specialty Engineered Materials group declined 6.1% to $40.2 million compared to Q2 2024, reflecting pressure on segment margins. Notably, Avient highlighted double-digit sales growth in defense (which involves protective solutions for law enforcement and armed forces) and healthcare, where products are used in medical devices and consumables. While defense and healthcare offset much of the consumer and transportation weakness, those latter end-markets saw declines in the US and Canada, but growth in EMEA and Latin America. Cost discipline and operational improvements were also themes this quarter. Avient used cash flow from operations ($113 million) to pay down $50 million in debt. This keeps the company on track for its 2025 debt reduction target of $100–$200 million. Adjusted gross margin ticked slightly lower compared to Q2 2024, but the company expanded its adjusted operating margin to 11.9%, underscoring management's attention to productivity and cost management. The period also included notable one-time items. Year-to-date net income dropped on a GAAP basis due to a significant $86.3 million impairment charge linked to a cloud-based enterprise system. Management excluded this charge from adjusted earnings, but it impacted cash and reported net income. Looking Forward: Guidance and Areas to Monitor For the third quarter, Avient forecasts adjusted EPS of $0.70 For fiscal 2025, it narrowed full-year guidance to adjusted EPS of $2.77–$2.87, narrowed from a prior range of $2.70–$2.94. The outlook for adjusted EBITDA was updated to $545–$560 million. Management expects continued margin expansion from its higher-profit sectors—especially defense and healthcare—and affirms its commitment to cost control and further debt reduction. Order book visibility remains low (about 20–30 days out), and management stated, "we expect similar demand trends that we experienced in the first half." Several items will merit close attention in future quarters. Avient is counting on continued resilience in healthcare and defense end-markets, but a significant part of its targeted second-half 2025 earnings relies on further cost savings and foreign currency gains, rather than direct sales growth. Working capital requirements rose, partly from seasonal patterns and incentive payouts, so cash management will be important to watch. Raw material cost inflation is expected to be limited to 1–2% for the year. The company also reported that fewer than 3% of sales and 8% of raw material costs are exposed to tariff risks, due to a focus on local manufacturing, as disclosed by management in May. Overall, the business is positioned to benefit from its innovation, global reach, and a diversified customer base, while keeping a close eye on shifting demand in its core North American consumer and transportation markets. Revenue and net income presented using U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) unless otherwise noted. Where to invest $1,000 right now When our analyst team has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,036%* — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 181% for the S&P 500. They just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now, available when you join Stock Advisor. *Stock Advisor returns as of July 29, 2025 JesterAI is a Foolish AI, based on a variety of Large Language Models (LLMs) and proprietary Motley Fool systems. All articles published by JesterAI are reviewed by our editorial team, and The Motley Fool takes ultimate responsibility for the content of this article. JesterAI cannot own stocks and so it has no positions in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Malay Mail
30-07-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
SIBUR Begins Installation of Polypropylene Production Line at Amur GСC
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Media OutReach Newswire - 30 July 2025 - SIBUR, Russia's largest polymer producer, has started installing a polypropylene production unit at the Amur Gas Chemical Complex (GСC), which is currently under construction in the country's Far East, close to Asian Amur GCC is one of the largest investment projects in the global petrochemical industry, with a planned annual production capacity of 2.7 million tonnes of polymers. Eighty-two per cent of the construction has already been completed, with production scheduled to begin next July, SIBUR installed the first piece of equipment for polypropylene production at the Amur GCC, a 20-tonne column responsible for purifying exhaust gas from solid polypropylene particles. The equipment was delivered to the construction site via the Zeya deliveries of heavy and oversized equipment to the Amur GCC site are expected to be completed before the end of this year's summer navigation season. Polyethylene production is planned to begin in 2026, followed by polypropylene production in 2027. In addition to Russia, products will be exported to China and other Asian Amur GCC is in the first quartile of the global cost curve, ensuring its competitiveness under any market conditions. The plant has a secure supply of Russian ethane and LPG, making it less vulnerable than its competitors to fluctuations in hydrocarbon feedstock complex includes one polypropylene production line with a capacity of 0.4 million tonnes per year, as well as four polyethylene lines – three using gas-phase technology and one using slurry-phase technology – with a total combined capacity of 2.3 million tonnes per #SIBUR The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Yahoo
27-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists discover innovative method to pull gold out of common waste: 'It is increasingly important'
There's treasure in trash — literally. Discarded computers, circuit boards, and other electronic waste contain valuable metals like gold. Now, breakthrough research could make extracting gold easier and cleaner. A study by Flinders University unveiled a new process that can recover high-purity gold from both ore and electronic waste. The process uses a disinfectant called trichloroisocyanuric acid, commonly used in water sanitation. When activated with salt water, it becomes powerful enough to dissolve gold without the need for mercury or cyanide. Then, a custom polymer sorbent binds the extracted gold and separates it from other metals and waste. The process does not rely on toxic substances. "It is increasingly important to develop safe and versatile methods to purify gold from varying sources," said Dr. Lynn Lisboa, one of the lead authors of the study. What makes this discovery especially promising is that the polymer binding the gold can be reused. Once it collects the gold, it's triggered to "unmake" itself, allowing both the gold and polymer to be recovered and recycled. This closed-loop design helps prevent waste while reducing the cost of materials needed for future recovery. Gold is essential in electronics, medicine, and the aerospace industry. But traditional extraction releases enormous amounts of toxic mercury and cyanide, especially from small-scale mining, which emits over 2,000 tons of mercury every year, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. WWF reported that cyanide spills have led to fish kills and long-term ecosystem damage, like what happened in the Tisza River system in 2000. As e-waste continues to pile up globally, old electronics, such as phones and laptops, often end up in landfills, leaking harmful chemicals into the environment. By making gold recovery safer and more efficient, the new technique from Flinders University offers a cleaner way to handle discarded electronic materials. The research team is now working with recyclers and miners to scale the technology. Similar efforts are underway in Switzerland, where researchers are also using food by-products such as whey to recover gold from circuit boards. Innovations like these highlight how circular economy thinking — recovering valuable materials from the products we discard — can help reduce e-waste, support cleaner production, and lower the need for resource-intensive mining.
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bounce Innovation Hub starting polymer, materials science accelerator; taking applications
Bounce Innovation Hub has launched a new, 12-month accelerator for polymer and materials science startups called Synthe6. Bounce is accepting applications for the first cohort of the accelerator, which launches this September, according to a news release. Startups can apply at and applications are due by July 31. The program will in its first year support up to eight early-stage companies with commercialization training, grant funding and access to industry leaders through the Polymer Industry Cluster, housed at the Greater Akron Chamber. In partnership with the cluster, Synthe6 is geared toward "hard tech" startups specializing in polymers, according to the release. The accelerator will offer $25,000 in non-dilutive funding and $15,000 to cover expenses for professional services. Such services include legal and marketing as well as materials formulation and testing services. 'This isn't a generic accelerator,' said Nick Glavan, Synthe6 program director. 'We're creating a program designed around the unique commercialization challenges that polymer and materials startups face. We will connect founders to mentors, specialists, and industry relationships that actually move the needle.' The accelerator includes weekly sessions that include targeted workshops, mentor coaching and access to experts such as investment advisers, grant strategists, leadership development coaches and regulatory consultants. Jaye Goldstein, a tech startup adviser and program architect, provided input on the development of the accelerator's curriculum. Goldstein supported innovation programs at MIT and Harvard. 'The Synthe6 Materials Accelerator is a powerful example of how the Polymer Industry Cluster is activating our innovation ecosystem to accelerate real-world impact for member companies,' said Hans Dorfi, the Polymer Industry Cluster's executive director and chief innovation officer. 'By connecting emerging materials startups with our leading industry members, technical experts, and commercialization resources, we're creating a launchpad for the next generation of sustainable, scalable polymer solutions." The state of Ohio's Innovation Hubs program provided funding for the accelerator, the release said. A committee of technical and entrepreneurial experts appointed by the Polymer Industry Cluster will review applications and announce final admission decisions in August. Learn more at This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Bounce Innovation Hub launching new accelerator focused on polymers Solve the daily Crossword
CNN
21-07-2025
- Business
- CNN
Holographic cartridges might be the solution to growing global data needs
A London startup, HoloMem, is developing holographic polymer tape cartridges that store up to 200 terabytes of data and last over 50 years, offering a high-density alternative to traditional storage, Isabel Rosales reports.
