West Palm Beach, Florida, USA
May 09, 2016

• First quarter net sales of $824 million, an increase of 54.0% 
• First quarter organic sales decline of 0.9% 
• First quarter adjusted EBITDA of $168 million, an increase of 27.3%
• First quarter GAAP EPS of $(0.59) and adjusted diluted EPS of $0.11
• Integration and synergy plans on track
• Full year adjusted EBITDA guidance of $725 to $775 million affirmed

Platform Specialty Products Corporation (NYSE:PAH) ("Platform" or the "Company"), a global, diversified specialty chemicals company, today announced its financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2016.

First quarter of March 31, 2016:

• Net sales for the first quarter 2016 were $824 million, an increase of 54.0% on a reported basis and a decrease of 8.2% on a pro forma basis compared to the first quarter of 2015.  Organic sales decreased 0.9% year-over-year;
  • Performance Solutions segment: Net sales were $420 million, a decline of 7.7% from $455 million of pro forma sales in the first quarter of 2015. Organic sales decreased 1.8% year-over-year;
  • Agricultural Solutions segment: Net sales were $404 million, an 8.6% decline from $442 million of pro forma sales in the first quarter of 2015. Organic sales were flat year-over-year;
• Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter 2016 was $168 million, a decrease of 5.6% compared to the first quarter of 2015 on a pro forma basis, and grew 0.3% on a pro forma constant currency basis;
  • Performance Solutions segment: Adjusted EBITDA was $83 million, a decrease of 7.5% from $90 million of pro forma adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter of 2015.  On a pro forma constant currency basis, adjusted EBITDA for this segment declined $2 million or 2.5%, due to increased corporate allocations;
  • Agricultural Solutions segment: Adjusted EBITDA was $85 million, a decline of 4.0% from $89 million of pro forma adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter of 2015.  On a pro forma constant currency basis, adjusted EBITDA for this segment increased $3 million or 3.1%, which was understated due to larger corporate allocations;
  • Adjusted EBITDA margin was 20.5% compared to a margin of 19.9% in the first quarter of 2015 on a pro forma constant currency basis;
• Additional cost synergies of $11 million were reported in the first quarter of 2016 from the ongoing integrations in the Agricultural Solutions and Performance Solutions segments. The business remains on track to achieve $40 million of synergies in 2016;
• Reported net loss attributable to common stockholders was $135 million, compared to a net loss of $27 million for the same period in 2015;
• Adjusted diluted earnings per share were $0.11 compared to pro forma adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.16 in the same period of 2015.

CEO Comment

Chief Executive Officer Rakesh Sachdev said, "Platform demonstrated its resilience this quarter in challenging end-markets.  Our combined business was essentially flat in down markets in terms of both organic sales and constant currency adjusted EBITDA year-on-year.  Excluding the impact of changes in exchange rates and higher corporate costs we are incurring to build our infrastructure, both businesses increased profitability year-over-year.  Performance Solutions managed to grow its profits despite a challenging Asian electronics environment on the back of continued strength in automotive and initiatives to improve its mix of higher margin solutions.  I am particularly pleased with our Ag results - while the overall market has been down significantly, we have managed to remain flat through a combination of the niche nature of our end-markets and strong execution, particularly in Europe.  In the first quarter, our performance was driven by an early spring in Europe and strong demand for our bio-solutions portfolio and selective herbicides to manage glyphosate weed resistance. Working capital grew on the back of a particularly strong March and in line with typical seasonal trends in the Ag market."

Rakesh Sachdev continued, "The benefits of our diversification and variable cost model are best evidenced in tough markets like these. We are benefiting from our focus on less volatile niche markets and our highly-diversified customer base and geographic footprint. We remain internally focused on operating execution, integration and synergy realization, which will continue to be key drivers of our success in 2016.  We are pleased to affirm our full year guidance, and I look forward to providing updates on our progress in the coming quarters."

Full release

Website: http://www.platformspecialtyproducts.com/

Published: May 10, 2016