Avient bouncing back from financial impact of COVID-19

Officials with materials firm Avient Corp. said the business is recovering from the financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We are seeing a recovery in demand in the third quarter" Avient Robert Patterson, chairman, president and CEO, said in a Sept. 24 news release. "Most notably, our composites business is benefitting from increased demand for outdoor high performance applications."

As a result, he added, officials expect the firm's Specialty Engineered Materials segment will deliver more than 15 percent EBITDA growth vs. the third quarter of 2019.

Avon Lake, Ohio-based Avient also is benefiting from its recent acquisition of the Clariant Masterbatch business. Patterson said that the acquisition "has been immediately accretive to adjusted EPS."

"Our integration efforts are on track and very encouraging—culturally, commercially and operationally," he added. "From a synergy standpoint, we've identified additional upside from our original $60 million estimate, and now expect to achieve a run rate of $75 million in cost reductions by the end of year three.

"We do not foresee synergy capture being impacted by the pandemic."

Avient completed the Clariant deal on July 1, the same date the company changed its name from PolyOne Corp. The deal added 46 manufacturing sites and technology centers in 29 countries and about 3,500 employees to Avient's previous total. The business being acquired has annual sales of $1.1 billion. It will operate as part of Avient's Color, Additives and Inks unit.

Avient officials added that some end markets that were negatively impacted by the pandemic in the second quarter are recovering. They expect third quarter sales of $905 million. That amount, which includes the Clariant unit, would be up almost 30 percent vs. the same quarter in 2019.

"We are pleased to see early signs of recovery from the coronavirus pandemic," Patterson said. "Our manufacturing facilities are fully operational, our commercial team is collaborating with customers and we remain fully committed to doing everything we can to support the ongoing recovery efforts."

For the first half of the year, Avient saw sales slide almost 12 percent to $1.32 billion, as first-half profit increased 23 percent to $56.1 million.

Avient is one of North America's largest compounders and concentrate makers and is one of the region's largest resin distributors. The firm employs 9,100 worldwide and posted pro forma sales of $4 billion in 2019.