Elementis makes 'good start' to year, shareholders told

Elementis has made a good start to the year, it told shareholders on Thursday, adding that it remained confident of making further financial and strategic progress in 2018.

The FTSE 250 speciality chemicals company, which was holding its annual general meeting, sai that in personal care its hectorite-based products for the cosmetics market continued to experience growth across new product categories and geographies.

Performance in antiperspirant active ingredients also improved, following pricing actions taken in 2017.

In coatings, performance benefited from growth in both the Europe, Middle East and Africa region and the Americas, and a steady performance in Asia.

Energy remained “solid”, according to the board.

As it expected, growth had moderated against strong comparatives, with good performance in the US and rest of the world, and lower industry activity levels in Canada.

Chromium continued to deliver resilient performance, but exceptional weather conditions at Elementis’ Castle Hayne plant constrained output in the first quarter.

Production had since recovered, and the company continued to expect full year performance to be in line with 2017.

On the financial front, the firm’s strong free cash generation continued in the first quarter, and net debt reduced from the year end, which was assisted by the completion of the disposal of its surfactants business in March.

The company’s financial platform was “robust”, the board said, supportive of future growth and continued shareholder value creation.

“Elementis has had a solid start to the year and we are confident of delivering continued progress in 2018, in line with our previous expectations,” commented CEO Paul Waterman.