Elementis plc (LON:ELM) said revenues in April fell roughly 15% compared to last year due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, after a “solid” first quarter for the chemicals group.
Trading in the first three months of the year was in line with expectations, the FTSE 250 group said in a statement, though without putting a number on it.
There was no shortage of raw material and its 22 plants remained open for the whole period apart from a temporary closure of two sites in China during February.
Since then, the company's sites continue to “operate well”, apart from a two week shutdown of a factory in Brazil site in April and the pausing of construction of a new plant in Mumbai, India.
Over the first quarter the Personal Care division was “modestly ahead” of the same period last year, Coatings revenue was up thanks to strong volumes in Asia and the Americas, and Talc was “broadly in line” with last year as solid sales in plastics and coatings were offset by lower ceramics and paper.
Energy had a “challenging” quarter with the oil price crash a little offset by strong global key account sales, while Chromium sales were in line with last year but margins declined.
Cash levels remained above US$300mln thanks to lending facilities, as stated last month.
Chief executive Paul Waterman said: "Elementis has a high quality, advantaged portfolio in premium performance additives with good long term growth opportunities. While our Q1 business performance was in line with expectations, the macro-economic and end-market outlook over the coming months is very uncertain.
"Having agreed a relaxation of our banking covenants and suspended our dividend to strengthen our financial position, our focus remains on what we can control, namely managing our operations well and optimising both cost and cash management."
Shares in the company were up 3% to 72.6p after an hour of trading on Wednesday.