In August, PolyOne sold its PP&S unit—including Geon-brand PVC compounds—to private equity firm S.K. Capital Partners of New York for $775 million in cash. Part of that amount then was used in December to buy the Clariant business for $1.45 billion. That business has annual sales of around $1.15 billion.
In the Jan. 28 release, Robert Patterson, PolyOne's chairman, president and CEO, described those deals as "two major steps forward in our specialty transformation."
"We embark on the new year with clear momentum and confidence in our ability to deliver double-digit adjusted EPS growth in 2020 and beyond," he said. "With a more specialty portfolio and less exposure to cyclical end markets, we believe our best days are ahead."
PolyOne's Specialty Engineered Materials unit performed well in 2019, with sales up more than 15 percent to almost $746 million and operating profit up more than 19 percent. The firm's Distribution unit saw full-year sales fall almost 6 percent to $1.19 billion, while operating profit grew almost 6 percent. For PolyOne's Color, Additives and Inks unit, sales for the year were down 4 percent to just over $1 billion, with operating profit down almost 7 percent.
PolyOne's stock price began 2019 around $32.40 and closed Dec. 31 near $36.80 for an increase of almost 12 percent. The price was at $35.70 in early trading Jan. 28.
