PolyOne Announces First Quarter 2010 Expectations

CLEVELAND, March 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

-- Anticipate earnings per share before special items and tax adjustments of approximately $0.15 for first quarter 2010 versus First Call Consensus Estimate of $0.09 -- Positive impact of new business gains and improving demand dynamics expected to drive revenues above $600 million for first quarter of 2010 -- Strategic platform earnings are expected to overcome near break-even results from SunBelt joint venture

PolyOne Corporation today announced expectations for first quarter 2010 revenue and earnings performance.

Due to the positive impact of new business gains and improving demand dynamics, the company expects revenues to exceed $600 million for the first quarter of 2010 - an approximate 30 percent increase from the first quarter of 2009 and 10 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2009. Earnings per share before special items and tax adjustments are expected to approximate $0.15 for the first quarter of 2010. The First Call Consensus Estimate for the first quarter of 2010 is currently $0.09 per share.

"Through our relentless focus on specialization and winning new business in each of our three strategic platforms we have completely overhauled the underlying earnings power of PolyOne," said Stephen D. Newlin, chairman, president and chief executive officer. "I am extremely pleased with the success of our transformation strategy, and for the first quarter of 2010 we expect to report the best mix of earnings in PolyOne's history, overcoming near break-even results from our SunBelt joint venture."

Newlin added, "While auto demand appears to be picking-up we are still seeing trough-like conditions in housing and chlor-alkali. Fortunately, we have an expanding portfolio of sustainable and growing earnings streams in end markets such as healthcare and consumer goods as well as in emerging markets in Asia. We view a future recovery of housing and chlor-alkali as upside to the underlying base of earnings we expect to report in the first quarter of 2010, although raw material inflation could make margin expansion challenging."

About PolyOne

PolyOne Corporation, with 2009 revenues of $2.1 billion, is a premier provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions. Headquartered outside of Cleveland, Ohio USA, PolyOne has operations around the world. For additional information on PolyOne, visit our Web site at http://www.polyone.com/.

To access PolyOne's news library online, please visit http://www.polyone.com/news.

Forward-looking Statements

In this press release, statements that are not reported financial results or other historical information are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements give current expectations or forecasts of future events and are not guarantees of future performance. They are based on management's expectations that involve a number of business risks and uncertainties, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements. They use words such as "will," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe," and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance and/or sales. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: the finalization of the financial statements for the first quarter ending March 31, 2010; disruptions, uncertainty or volatility in the credit markets that could adversely impact the availability of credit already arranged and the availability and cost of credit in the future; the financial condition of our customers, including the ability of customers (especially those that may be highly leveraged and those with inadequate liquidity) to maintain their credit availability; the speed and extent of an economic recovery, including the recovery of the housing and chlor-alkali markets; our ability to achieve new business gains; the effect on foreign operations of currency fluctuations, tariffs, and other political, economic and regulatory risks; changes in polymer consumption growth rates in the markets where we conduct business; changes in global industry capacity or in the rate at which anticipated changes in industry capacity come online; fluctuations in raw material prices, quality and supply and in energy prices and supply; production outages or material costs associated with scheduled or unscheduled maintenance programs; unanticipated developments that could occur with respect to contingencies such as litigation and environmental matters; an inability to achieve or delays in achieving or achievement of less than the anticipated financial benefit from initiatives related to working capital reductions, cost reductions, employee productivity goals and our new global organization structure; an inability to raise or sustain prices for products or services; an inability to maintain appropriate relations with unions and employees; and other factors affecting our business beyond our control, including, without limitation, changes in the general economy, changes in interest rates and changes in the rate of inflation. The above list of factors is not exhaustive.

We undertake no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You are advised to consult any further disclosures we make on related subjects in our reports on Form 10-Q, 8-K and 10-K that we provide to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Attachment 1 Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures (Unaudited)

Senior management uses net income (loss) per share (EPS) before special items, tax adjustments and tax valuation allowance to assess performance and facilitate comparability of results with prior periods. Below is a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.

Reconciliation to Estimated Net Income Per Share Q1 2010 ------- Estimated net income per share $0.15 Estimated special items, after-tax per share 0.02 Estimated tax adjustments per share (0.02) Estimated net income per share before special items and tax adjustments $0.15 =======

PolyOne Corporation

CONTACT: Investor Relations, Joseph P. Kelley, Vice President, Planning
& Investor Relations, [phone], [e-mail], Media:
Amanda Marko, Director, Corporate Communications, [phone],
[e-mail], both of PolyOne Corporation

Web Site: http://www.polyone.com/