Elementis PLC (LON:ELM) said its plans to focus resources on higher margin growth opportunities would help it make further financial progress this year after delivering a “solid” recent trading performance.
The speciality chemicals group on Thursday said it had delivered resilient performance in the three months to the end of September, boosted by robust performances from its personal care and energy businesses.
READ: Elementis cuts up-front price of Mondo Minerals acquisition by US$100mln after investor unrest
The FTSE 250-listed firm said its recent acquisition of Mondo Minerals represented “a material new growth opportunity”. It said Mondo continued to trade in line with its expectations and was experiencing good momentum going into 2019.
Hastings said at its coatings business, its transformation programme continued to gather pace as it implements efficiency measures and price increases. It said that in the third quarter, the division’s performance in Europe and the Americas had been similar to the first half but that Asia had been impacted by weaker volumes and currency headwinds, primarily in China, as a result of an economic slowdown.
Activity levels at its energy unit had improved driven by new business wins and early signs of recovery in deepwater drilling. The company said it continues to expect a “sequential improvement in performance” in the second half of the year.
At its chromium unit, Elementis said that following a temporary production suspension at Castle Hayne in September due to Hurricane Florence, production had since restarted. Despite some expected mitigation from insurance, the outage would adversely impact the division’s full-year operating performance, it said.
"Overall performance in the third quarter has been solid,” CEO Paul Waterman said in a statement.
“We continue to implement our 'Reignite Growth' strategy, focusing resources on higher margin growth opportunities, high grading our business portfolio and driving both cost and capital efficiency. In addition, we are excited to begin the integration of Mondo Minerals at pace. "
Shares in Elementis opened 0.9% down at 195.40p.