BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Specialty chemicals company Evonik Industries AG (EVK.DE) reported Thursday that its first-quarter net income fell 46 percent to 130 million euros from last year's 239 million euros.
Adjusted net income was 181 million euros, or 0.39 euro per share, compared to 249 million euros or 0.53 euro per share a year ago.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization or EBITDA fell 5 percent from the prior year to 513 million euros. The adjusted EBITDA margin declined to 15.8 percent from 16.4 percent last year.
The company said lower volumes and selling prices were responsible for the decline in adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter.
Sales decreased 1 percent to 3.24 billion euros from 3.29 billion euros last year.
Evonik said it made a solid start to the new year with only 1 drop in sales, despite the economic slowdown caused by the corona pandemic.
Looking ahead for fiscal 2020, Evonik adjusted its outlook, and now expects sales between 11.5 billion euros and 13.0 billion euros and an adjusted EBITDA of between 1.7 billion euros and 2.1 billion euros. Previously, Evonik was expecting stable sales of around 13.1 billion euros and adjusted EBITDA of between 2.1 billion euros and 2.3 billion euros.
Further, the company said its executive board is sticking to its proposal to pay a dividend of 1.15 euros per share for the 2019 financial year. The amount of 0.57 euro per share will be paid on June 2, and the remaining 0.58 euro per share will be paid on September 3.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX