| Abstrakt: |
Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE), a global chemical and specialty materials company, today reported GAAP diluted earnings per share of $6.89 and adjusted earnings per share of $9.53 for 2019. Net sales for the full year were $6.3 billion, as price and volume declined by 7 percent and 3 percent, respectively, from 2018. Despite weak demand and broad industry destocking across 2019, all businesses executed controllable actions centered on capturing new business opportunities, executing productivity initiatives, and deploying high-return capital to deliver solid performance. The Company generated robust operating cash flow of $1.5 billion and free cash flow of $1.1 billion. Celanese returned a record $1.3 billion in cash to shareholders during 2019, including $300 million in dividends and $1.0 billion in share repurchases. During the year, the Company repurchased 7 percent of total shares outstanding. Based primarily on further controllable actions including productivity initiatives and capital deployment, the Company expects to reach 2020 adjusted earnings of approximately $11 per share despite no assumed meaningful improvement from 2019 market conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] |
