Covestro Meets Guidance for 2020 First Quarter Despite Coronavirus Impact
Covestro’s core volumes decreased by 4.1% in the first quarter of 2020, compared to the prior-year quarter.
Covestro recently announced that it met its EBITDA guidance for the first quarter of 2020 in a business environment strongly impacted by COVID-19. Core volumes decreased by 4.1% compared to the prior-year quarter, mainly as a result of significantly weaker demand in China due to coronavirus-related interruptions of production at local customers in February and March 2020.
Coupled with a worldwide decline in selling prices, mainly driven by increased competitive pressure in the Polyurethanes and Polycarbonates segments, this led to lower group sales of around €2.8 billion (approximately $3 billion), a 12.3% decline. EBITDA stood at €254 million (~ $275.8 million), a 42.5% decline, which was in the expected range for the first quarter.