Quantuum loss shocks Wall Street
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.NEW YORK - Quantuum Chemical, the big US plastics maker that Hanson agreed to buy last month, yesterday reported second-quarter losses far worse than Wall Street had predicted, suggesting a turnaround may be farther off than expected, writes Larry Black.
Chemical analysts had expected a recovery from the dollars 42m loss Quantuum posted in the second quarter of 1992, but the losses deepened during the last quarter to dollars 52m, or dollars 1.49 a share. The industry had expected a loss of about dollars 1.06 a share.
The company said sales volumes of its main product, polyethylene, were flat from a year ago, while average selling prices were lower. Reduced shipments of Quantuum's other chemicals to European markets also brought down revenues and profits for those products.
Raw material costs rose, largely because of increases in the price of ethylene and an unexpected 12-day shutdown at one of its ethylene plants in Illinois last month. Margins also declined for its other main product line, propane, but the losses were offset by lower operating expenses. The results included an dollars 800,000 charge for costs associated with the Hanson merger.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments