Chemours Co., Wilmington, appeared to be firing on all cylinders in the second quarter.
“Our performance this quarter was truly a team effort, resulting in broad-based growth across our segments,” said CEO Mark Vergnano. “Continued momentum in Opteon refrigerants adoption, increased price and sustained demand for our Fluoropolymers products, higher average global prices for Ti-Pure pigment, and demand for our Mining Solutions products led to double-digit growth across our key financial metrics.”
Second quarter net sales rose 14 percent from the prior year quarter to $1.8 billion, driven by volume growth in Fluoroproducts and Chemical Solutions, and higher global average selling prices in Titanium Technologies and Fluoroproducts.
Second quarter net income was $281 million, up 75 percent and 82 percent, respectively. Net income in the quarter reflects the impact of extinguishment of debt and refinancing actions taken
In the first half of 2018, cash provided by operating activities was $539 million, versus $225 million in the first half of 2017. Year-to-date 2018 Free Cash Flow of $311 million represents a $224 million improvement compared to the prior year’s first half.
“Chemours is committed to the capital allocation priorities set forth at our December investor day, including returning higher levels of cash to shareholders,” said Chemours CFO Mark Newman. “Following our increased first quarter 2018 dividend, we are continuing to grow our quarterly dividend to a level that we believe is not only sustainable but provides a platform to reward shareholders in line with our earnings growth over time. Paired with our new share repurchase authorization, we now expect to return the majority of our Free Cash Flow generation to shareholders through 2020.”
Vergnano concluded, “Given our strong first half results and visibility into the rest of 2018, we believe that earnings will be in the top end of our previously announced range.”
Chemours shares rose to $45.20 in after-hours trading, up 2.8 percent from the Thursday close.
