AVON LAKE, Ohio—PolyOne Corp., North America's largest compounder and concentrates maker and one of its largest resin distributors, posted mixed results in 2016, with a solid gain in profit but a slight dip in sales.
Full-year sales at Avon Lake-based PolyOne fell 1 percent to $3.34 billion, while profit jumped almost 12 percent to $165 million.
"2016 was a challenging year in many aspects, yet we found a way to expand our adjusted earnings per share for the seventh year in a row and, most importantly, invest for the future," President and CEO Robert Patterson said in a Jan. 27 news release.
Among individual business units, Specialty Engineered Materials posted a sales gain of more than 4 percent for PolyOne in 2016, while sales in Distribution grew almost 4 percent. But sales in Color, Additives & Inks slipped almost 2 percent, with sales in Performance Products & Solutions—including PVC compounds—down almost 2 percent and sales in Designed Structures & Solutions including sheet—tumbling more than 11 percent.
In operating profit for 2016, Performance Products & Solutions grew almost 30 percent, with Specialty Engineered Materials up almost 3 percent. Operating profit for Color, Additives & Inks slipped almost 6 percent, while distribution essentially was flat in that area. Designed Structures & Solutions posted an operating loss of almost $4 million in 2016 after making almost $14 million the previous year.
On Wall Street, PolyOne's per-share stock price began 2016 around $32 and peaked above $38 in July before returning to $32 by the end of the year. It had improved to $33.60 in early trading Jan. 30.