The firm, which makes lithium derivatives for batteries, mentioned automotive gross sales had been up an underlying 19%, boosted by an 80% soar in hybrid and electrical car batteries, and offsetting continued weak spot in civil aerospace on account of COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions.
Solvay mentioned on Wednesday it expects free money circulate to achieve the higher finish of its 2021 steering vary after the Belgian chemical compounds group beat first-quarter earnings expectations, helped by price cuts and robust automotive gross sales.
The firm, whose merchandise vary from base chemical compounds reminiscent of soda ash to speciality polymers utilized in vehicles and planes, now expects free money circulate this yr of 650 million euros ($781 million), narrowing its earlier steering of 600-650 million.
Solvay raised its price cuts goal final February to 500 million euros by 2024, from 350 million euros, and mentioned it deliberate to chop 500 jobs by 2022. That adopted a discount of 570 positions final yr within the United States and in Britain as a part of its restructuring.
The firm, which makes lithium derivatives for batteries, mentioned automotive gross sales had been up an underlying 19%, boosted by an 80% soar in hybrid and electrical car batteries, and offsetting continued weak spot in civil aerospace on account of COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions.
First-quarter earnings earlier than curiosity, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 10.3% like-for-like from a yr earlier to 583 million euros, above a company-provided consensus of 535 million euros.
Sales in January-March had been up an underlying 1.9% at 2.37 billion euros, above a company-provided consensus of two.32 billion euros.
