Japan’s MRC posts 21.9% hike in H1 operating profit

10 November 2005 10:01  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Mitsubishi Rayon Co (MRC) reported a 21.9% rise in first-half 2005 operating profits to Yen18.7bn ($158.8m/Euro135m) from a year ago, the Japanese chemicals producer said on Thursday.

Consolidated net sales for the six-month ended 30 September rose 3.1% at Yen166.7bn, from the corresponding period of 2004, while net income surged 49.6% to Yen11.3bn.

MRC’s chemicals and plastics segment saw operating profit for the period grow 26.7% to Yen13.6bn as sales increased by 7.6% to Yen85.65bn.

The company’s fibres division posted a 39.8% operating loss to Yen1.1bn as sales dipped 5% to Yen42.75bn, while MRC’s business segment that includes carbon fibres, composite materials and membranes reported a 43.2% growth in operating income to Yen3.9bn, with sales up 2.6% to Yen57.9bn.

The company did not comment on the results.

MRC is a producer of methyl methacrylate (MMA), dimethylformamide (DMF), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resins. It has a 210,500 tonne/year MMA facility in Ohtake, Hiroshima prefecture in Japan, and a 90,000 tonne/year plant in Mab Ta Phut, Thailand, which is a joint venture with the Thai olefins producer Cementhai.

The company hopes to start up a new 90,000 tonne/year MMA plant at Huizhou in 2006 and is planning a new 140,000 tonne/year MMA plant in Texas, US, to be ready by the end of 2009. It is also building a 40,000 tonne/year polyMMA (PMMA) plant in China that is expected to start commercial production by 2010.

By: Tan Liling
+65 6780 4359

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