Braskem announces 2Q13 Results

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Braskem S.A.

08 Aug, 2013, 14:30 GMT

SAO PAULO, Aug. 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Braskem S.A. (BM&FBOVESPA: BRKM3, BRKM5 and BRKM6; NYSE: BAK; LATIBEX: XBRK) announces today its results for 2Q13.

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Braskem's resin sales came to 947 kton, increasing 3%. Compared to 2Q12, which was affected by local economic slowdown, the market grew 26%.
  • In the quarter, the average capacity utilization of Braskem's crackers stood at 94%, increasing 4 p.p. from 1Q13, explained by the improvement in operating efficiency between the periods. Capacity utilization also benefited from the provisional measure of May 8, which reduced the PIS and COFINS tax rates on raw material purchases.
  • EBITDA in 2Q13 reached R$1,051 million, increasing 12% from the previous quarter, driven by the higher sales volume, the better operating performance and the recovery in international resins spreads. In U.S. dollar, EBITDA amounted to US$506 million.
  • Regarding the Ethylene XXI Project in Mexico, the construction of the new petrochemical complex continued to advance, with the project's physical completion reaching 37.7%.
  • In July, the subsidiary Braskem-Idesa withdrew the first installment of the project finance in the amount of US$1,484 million, which enabled the subsidiary to reimburse the investments advanced by shareholders, which in the case of Braskem amounted to US$649 million.
  • As of May 1st, 2013, Braskem decided to designate a portion of its dollar-denominated liabilities as hedge for its future exports in order to better reflect the effects of exchange variation on the accounting result of the Company.
  • Braskem's leverage, as measured by the net debt/EBITDA ratio, continued its downward trend, and excluding the Mexico project from this analysis, whose financing is non-recourse to its balance sheet, it reached 3.01x, down 10% from 1Q13.

The full earnings release is available on the Company's IR website: www.braskem.com.br/ir

Braskem will host conference calls to discuss its Results on Friday, August 9, 2013, at 11:00 a.m. ET in English and 9:00 a.m. ET in Portuguese. See connecting details on the Company's IR website.

For further information, contact Braskem's Investor Relations Area:

Roberta Pimphari Varella, +55 (11) 3576-9266, roberta.varella@braskem.com
Fernando T. de Campos +55 (11) 3576-9479, fernando.campos@braskem.com
Daniela Balle de Castro, +55 (11) 3576-9615, daniela.castro@braskem.com
Pedro Gomes de Souza, +55 (11) 3576-9010, pedro.gomes@braskem.com