LyondellBasell Industries announced earnings from continuing operations for the third quarter 2013 of $1.51 diluted earnings per share or $854 million. Third quarter 2013 EBITDA was $1,531 million.
Third-Quarter 2013 Highlights
- Diluted earnings per share of $1.51; $854 million income from continuing operations
-EBITDA of $1,531 million
- Solid earnings and cash flow continued, supported by reliable operations and favorable crude oil and natural gas environment
- Completed scheduled maintenance turnaround at Clinton ethylene and polyethylene facility
- 13.5 million shares repurchased during the quarter
"We achieved solid third quarter results, with earnings of $1.51 per share and EBITDA of $1.53 billion," said CEO Jim Gallogly. "This performance is sequentially down from the prior quarter due to scheduled maintenance at U.S. olefins and polyolefins site and fewer market-related opportunities in our European olefins and polyolefins business. Refining results again proved difficult, pressured by an oversupplied gasoline market, spending for RIN's and plant maintenance."
"During the quarter, we advanced our capital deployment program, purchasing shares and declaring dividends totaling $1.3 billion. Since authorization of the share repurchase program in May 2013 and through the close of the third quarter, approximately three percent of our outstanding shares have been repurchased," Gallogly said.
"Overall, we continued a pattern of steady results seen in recent quarters. Underlying this performance were safe, reliable operations coupled with the North American natural gas advantage. We are taking steps to further capitalize on this advantage.
"We are making significant progress on our expansion projects which will come online over the next two years. First up will be the fourth-quarter completion of the methanol restart project followed by our La Porte ethylene debottleneck expansion mid next year. We expect to see our growth projects completed significantly ahead of our competition and add to our strong earnings profile," Gallogly said.
OUTLOOK
"The fundamentals that have supported our results remained intact during October. However, we have historically seen margin compression in products such as oxyfuels in winter months and slower polyolefin sales around the holiday season," Gallogly said.
