Materials maker LyondellBasell saw declines in both sales and profit in the third quarter of 2024.
Houston-based LYB saw third-quarter sales dip almost 3 percent to $10.3 billion vs. the same quarter in 2023. Second-quarter profit declined 27 percent to $573 million in the same comparison.
In a news release, CEO Peter Vanacker said during the quarter LYB broke ground on a chemical recycling plant in Germany. He added the firm "is building a competitive advantage for delivering sustainable, low-carbon solutions to meet increasing demand."
Sales at the firm's olefins and polyolefins Americas unit grew 3.5 percent for the quarter to $2.98 billion, with operating profit surging 83 percent to $596 million. The firm is a major supplier of polyethylene and polypropylene resins.
O&P Americas' second-quarter PE sales volume was up 3 percent to more than 1.7 billion pounds, while its PP sales volume was flat at almost 630 million pounds.
LYB's advanced polymer solutions unit, which includes North America's largest compounding business, saw second-quarter sales essentially flat at $896 million with an operating loss of $5 million. That unit had posted an operating loss of $6 million in the year-ago period. Second-quarter sales volume for APS dropped more than 2 percent to just under 800 million pounds.
On Wall Street, LYB's share price began 2024 around $95 and reached close to $106 in early April, but was near $84 in late trading Nov. 4 for a decline of more than 11 percent since Jan. 1.