Dubai: With further operational gains forecast in the coming weeks, the Abu Dhabi petrochemicals giant Borouge is on track to pay $975 million as dividends for 2022. The company, in which energy giant ADNOC has a majority stake, has already paid $325 million this month as interim.
For shareholders, even better news awaits – next year, the plan is to pay ‘at least’ $1.3 billion. “Based on current view, Borouge management remains confident the company will meet market expectations for net profit for FY2022,” the company said in a statement.
Numbers light a spark
For the first nine-months of 2022, Borouge’s revenue gains were at 13.5 per cent to $5.13 billion, helped by the 11.9 per cent rise in total sales. On the EBITDA side however, there was a 3.6 per cent drop to $2.1 billion as continuing high logistics and material costs made a dent. Borouge says these key costs started seeing a reduction towards end September.
“Borouge’s strong volume growth partially offset the decline in its average selling prices, which were impacted by global supply and pricing pressures,” the company said in a statement. “Borouge’s pricing premia remained higher than the company’s medium-term guidance – a key competitive advantage for the business.”
For the third quarter alone, the adjusted EBITDA was $593 million and profit at $308 million. Hazeem Sultan Al Suwaidi, CEO of Borouge, cited the ‘strong year-to-date performance for revenue and sales volume delivered’. “We achieved this despite global supply and pricing pressures; and these results demonstrate our ability to continually innovate, providing a broader product mix to industries and customers around the world.
“Our infrastructure solutions continue to grow their share of our end product market, accounting for 46 per cent in the third quarter and remain a priority as we differentiate our offering from global peers. Importantly, we have been able to maintain our premia above benchmark pricing in the market.
“We see continued strong demand in our core markets compared to other global markets and remain optimistic on our leadership position.”
Borouge’s upbeat forecasts are based on:
- A mid-term price guidance on premia of $200/tonne for PE and $140/tonne for PP.
- Sales volumes are expected to return to levels equivalent to production volumes through the current quarter, with demand in Borouge’s core Asia and Middle East markets expected to outperform developed markets.