Avient Corporation

05/07/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/07/2026 08:27

Quarterly Report for Quarter Ending March 31, 2026 (Form 10-Q)

MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Our Business
We are an innovator of materials solutions to help our customers succeed, while enabling a sustainable world. Our products include specialty engineered materials, performance fibers, advanced composites, and color and additive solutions. We are also a highly specialized developer and manufacturer of performance enhancing additives, liquid colorants and silicone colorants. Headquartered in Avon Lake, Ohio, we have manufacturing sites, research and development facilities, design centers and warehouses around the globe. We provide value to our customers through our ability to link our knowledge of polymers and materials science with our manufacturing and supply chain capabilities to provide value-added solutions to designers, assemblers and processors of materials. When used in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, the terms "we," "us," "our," "Avient" and the "Company" mean Avient Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries.
Results of Operations - The three months ended March 31, 2026 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2025:
Three Months Ended
March 31,
Variances - Favorable (Unfavorable)
(Dollars in millions, except per share data) 2026 2025 Change %
Change
Sales $ 847.4 $ 826.6 $ 20.8 2.5 %
Cost of sales 574.8 563.4 (11.4) (2.0) %
Gross margin 272.6 263.2 9.4 3.6 %
Selling and administrative expense 176.8 262.5 85.7 32.6 %
Operating income 95.8 0.7 95.1 nm
Interest expense, net (22.0) (26.9) 4.9 18.2 %
Other expense, net (1.5) (0.4) (1.1) nm
Income (loss) before income taxes 72.3 (26.6) 98.9 371.8 %
Income tax (expense) benefit (16.5) 6.7 (23.2) (346.3) %
Net income (loss) 55.8 (19.9) 75.7 380.4 %
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests (0.1) (0.3) 0.2 nm
Net income (loss) attributable to Avient common shareholders $ 55.7 $ (20.2) $ 75.9 375.7 %
Earnings (loss) per share attributable to Avient common shareholders - Basic: $ 0.61 $ (0.22)
Earnings (loss) per share attributable to Avient common shareholders - Diluted: $ 0.61 $ (0.22)
nm - not meaningful
Sales
Sales increased $20.8 million, or 2.5%, for the three months ended March 31, 2026 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2025. Favorable foreign currency impacts were 4.6%, while sales, excluding the impacts of foreign exchange, decreased 2.0%. Sales increases within the building & construction, packaging and healthcare end markets were more than offset by declines in the consumer, transportation and industrial end markets.
Gross Margin
Gross margin as a percentage of sales was 32.2% for the three months ended March 31, 2026 compared to 31.8% for the three months ended March 31, 2025. The increase was primarily driven by cost savings from productivity and restructuring actions.
Selling and administrative expense
Selling and administrative expense decreased $85.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2026, primarily driven by the Company's decision to cease development of the cloud-based enterprise resource planning system, S/4HANA, in 2025, which resulted in an impairment charge of $71.6 million and additional charges of $14.7 million for unpaid contractual obligations for hosting fees.
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Interest expense, net
Interest expense, net decreased $4.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2026, primarily driven by the benefit of reduced interest rates resulting from refinancing activity during 2025, in addition to prepayments on Avient's senior secured term loan totaling $150.0 million during 2025.
Income taxes
During the three months ended March 31, 2026, the Company's effective tax rate of 22.8% was above the U.S federal rate of 21.0% primarily due to foreign earnings mix, U.S. global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI), and withholding taxes on foreign earnings. These unfavorable items were partially offset by U.S. research and development (R&D) credits, along with favorable foreign permanent items, most notably tax incentives associated with R&D.
During the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Company's effective tax rate resulted in a benefit of 25.2% as a result of pre-tax loss in the first quarter of 2025. The pre-tax loss was driven by the Company's cloud-based enterprise resource planning system impairment. The 25.2% income tax benefit was higher than the U.S. federal tax rate of 21.0% primarily due to the state and local tax benefit of the pre-tax loss.
SEGMENT INFORMATION
Avient has two reportable segments: (1) Color, Additives and Inks; and (2) Specialty Engineered Materials.
Operating income is the primary segment performance measure that is reported to our chief operating decision maker (CODM), which is the Company's chief executive officer. Our CODM utilizes this measure as an input to determine appropriate resource allocations to our segments in the annual planning process and to periodically assess segment performance, primarily by evaluating actual results in comparison to the annual operating plan and forecast. Operating income at the segment level does not include corporate general and administrative expenses that are not allocated to segments, restructuring charges, share-based compensation costs, environmental remediation costs and associated recoveries, asset impairments, acquisition-related charges, mark-to-market adjustments on pension and other post-retirement obligations, and certain other items that are not included in the measure of segment profit or loss that is reported to and reviewed by our CODM. These costs are included in Corporate.
Sales and Operating Income - The three months ended March 31, 2026 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2025:
Three Months Ended
March 31,
Variances - Favorable
(Unfavorable)
(Dollars in millions) 2026 2025 Change % Change
Sales:
Color, Additives and Inks $ 528.1 $ 519.7 $ 8.4 1.6 %
Specialty Engineered Materials
320.2 308.4 11.8 3.8 %
Corporate (0.9) (1.5) 0.6 nm
Total sales $ 847.4 $ 826.6 $ 20.8 2.5 %
Operating income:
Color, Additives and Inks $ 81.4 $ 78.6 $ 2.8 3.6 %
Specialty Engineered Materials
47.4 47.1 0.3 0.6 %
Corporate (33.0) (125.0) 92.0 73.6 %
Total operating income $ 95.8 $ 0.7 $ 95.1 nm
Color, Additives and Inks
Sales increased $8.4 million, or 1.6%, in the three months ended March 31, 2026 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2025. Favorable foreign currency impacts were 5.1%, while sales, excluding the impacts of foreign exchange, decreased 3.5%. The sales decrease was primarily within the consumer, building & construction and transportation end markets, partially offset by a sales increase in the healthcare end market.
Operating income increased $2.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2026 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2025. The increase was primarily driven by cost savings from productivity and restructuring actions.
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Specialty Engineered Materials
Sales increased $11.8 million, or 3.8%, in the three months ended March 31, 2026 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2025. Favorable foreign currency impacts were 3.6%, while sales, excluding the impacts of foreign exchange, increased 0.2%. The sales increase was primarily within the building & construction and packaging end markets, partially offset by sales decreases in the consumer, industrial and transportation end markets.
Operating income increased $0.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2026 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2025, primarily driven by higher sales.
Corporate
Corporate costs decreased $92.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2026, primarily driven by the Company's decision to cease development of the cloud-based enterprise resource planning system, S/4HANA, in 2025, which resulted in an impairment charge of $71.6 million and additional charges of $14.7 million for unpaid contractual obligations for hosting fees. Further, restructuring charges for the three months ended March 31, 2026 were $5.2 million lower, compared to the three months ended March 31, 2025.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our objective is to finance our business through operating cash flow and an appropriate mix of debt and equity. By laddering the maturity structure, we avoid concentrations of debt maturities, reducing liquidity risk. We may from time to time seek to retire or purchase our outstanding debt with cash and/or exchanges for equity securities, in open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions or otherwise. We may also seek to repurchase our outstanding common shares. Such repurchases, if any, will depend on prevailing market conditions, our liquidity requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors. The amounts involved have been and may continue to be material.
The following table summarizes our liquidity as of March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025:
(In millions) As of March 31, 2026 As of December 31, 2025
Cash and cash equivalents $ 427.6 $ 510.5
Revolving credit availability 490.3 490.3
Liquidity $ 917.9 $ 1,000.8
As of March 31, 2026, approximately 78% of the Company's cash and cash equivalents resided outside the United States.
Expected sources of cash needed to satisfy cash requirements for the remainder of 2026 include our cash on hand, cash from operations and available liquidity under our revolving credit facility, if necessary. We believe that these sources will also provide sufficient liquidity to satisfy our expected uses of cash for at least the next twelve months and the foreseeable future thereafter. Expected uses of cash for the remainder of 2026 include interest payments, cash taxes, dividend payments, debt repayments, environmental remediation payments, restructuring payments and capital expenditures.
Cash Flows
The following describes the significant components of cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025.
Operating Activities - Net cash used in operating activities decreased $16.6 million during the three months ended March 31, 2026 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2025, driven primarily by insurance proceeds of $34.0 million in 2025 for previously incurred losses at the Calvert City site partially offset by lower incentive compensation payments in 2026 associated with 2025 performance and lower working capital investment.
Investing Activities - Net cash used in investing activities during the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025 of $19.0 million and $12.5 million, respectively, reflects the impact of capital expenditures.
Financing Activities - Net cash used in financing activities for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025 of $27.8 million and $28.3 million, respectively, primarily reflects dividend payments.
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Debt
As of March 31, 2026, aggregate maturities of the principal amount of debt for the current year, next four years and thereafter, are as follows:
(In millions)
2026 $ 0.4
2027 0.4
2028 0.4
2029 571.1
2030 725.5
Thereafter 651.0
Aggregate maturities $ 1,948.8
On March 12, 2025, the Company refinanced its senior secured term loan by amending the credit agreement governing such term loan (the Term Loan Amendment). The Term Loan Amendment reduced the interest rate per annum by 25 basis points, which now is either (i) Adjusted Term SOFR (as defined in the Term Loan Amendment) plus 1.75%, or (ii) a Base Rate (as defined in the Term Loan Amendment) plus 0.75%. The maturity date and other terms and conditions are substantially the same as the terms and conditions under the credit agreement immediately prior to the Term Loan Amendment.
On June 12, 2025, the Company entered into a revolving credit agreement (the Revolving Credit Agreement) with various financial institutions as lenders, and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent, which replaced our previous credit agreement set to mature in 2026. The Revolving Credit Agreement provides for a senior secured revolving credit facility of up to $500.0 million, which may be increased by up to $250.0 million, subject to certain conditions. Loans under the Revolving Credit Agreement will mature on June 12, 2030. The Revolving Credit Agreement contains representations and warranties, affirmative covenants, negative covenants and events of default that are substantially similar to those contained in the Company's existing term loan credit agreement.
During 2025, the Company made voluntary prepayments of $150.0 million on its senior secured term loan, which were applied to the principal installments in direct order of maturity. These prepayments were made without penalty or premium.
As of March 31, 2026, we were in compliance with all financial and restrictive covenants pertaining to our debt. For additional information regarding our debt, please see Note 7, Financing Arrangements, to the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements.
Derivatives and Hedging
We are exposed to market risks, such as changes in foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates. To manage the volatility related to these exposures we may enter into various derivative transactions. For additional information regarding our derivative instruments, please see Note 8, Derivatives and Hedging, to the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements.
Material Cash Requirements
We have future obligations under various contracts relating to debt and interest payments, operating leases, pension and post-retirement benefit plans, purchase obligations, restructuring payments and environmental remediation obligations. During the three months ended March 31, 2026, there were no material changes to these obligations as reported in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025.
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CAUTIONARY NOTE ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
In this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, 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. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historic or current facts. 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 condition, performance and/or sales. In particular, these include statements relating to future actions; prospective changes in raw material costs, product pricing or product demand; future performance; estimated capital expenditures; results of current and anticipated market conditions and market strategies; sales efforts; expenses; the outcome of contingencies such as legal proceedings and environmental liabilities; and financial results. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:
•disruptions, uncertainty or volatility in the global credit markets that could adversely impact the availability of credit already arranged and the availability and cost of credit in the future;
•the effect on foreign operations of currency fluctuations, tariffs and other political, economic and regulatory risks;
•disruptions or inefficiencies in our supply chain, logistics, or operations;
•changes in laws and regulations in jurisdictions where we conduct business, including with respect to plastics and climate change;
•changes to foreign trade policy, including new or increased tariffs and changing import/export regulations
•fluctuations in raw material prices, quality and supply, and in energy prices and supply;
•demand for our products and services;
•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;
•our ability to pay regular quarterly cash dividends and the amounts and timing of any future dividends;
•information systems failures, cybersecurity breaches and cyberattacks;
•our ability to service our indebtedness and restrictions on our current and future operations due to our indebtedness;
•amounts for cash and non-cash charges related to restructuring plans that may differ from original estimates, including because of timing changes associated with the underlying actions;
•other factors affecting our business beyond our control, including without limitation, changes in the general economy, changes in interest rates, changes in the rate of inflation, geopolitical conflicts, tariffs and any recessionary conditions; and
•other factors described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 under Item 1A, "Risk Factors."
We cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will be realized, although we believe we have been prudent in our plans and assumptions. Achievement of future results is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Should known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove inaccurate, actual results could vary materially from those anticipated, estimated or projected. Investors should bear this in mind as they consider forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law. You are advised, however, to consult any further disclosures we make on related subjects in our reports on Forms 10-Q, 8-K and 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should understand that it is not possible to predict or identify all risk factors. Consequently, you should not consider any such list to be a complete set of all potential risks or uncertainties.
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Avient Corporation published this content on May 07, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via EDGAR on May 07, 2026 at 14:27 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]