Celanese Corporation, a global chemical and specialty materials company, is looking at delivering double-digit earnings per share growth annually. 

Lori Ryerkerk, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, said: “We have systematically elevated the fundamental earnings and cash generation profile of the company over this time. As a result, Celanese has generated a total shareholder return (TSR) of 271 percent over the last decade and delivered positive TSR in nine of the last ten years. Additionally, we have returned a total of $6.2 billion in cash to our shareholders over the last decade through share repurchases and dividends.”

Ryerkerk continued, “Our businesses have demonstrated an ability to deliver resilient and strong performance in all environments. Following a challenging 2020 global backdrop, we entered 2021 with tremendous momentum across our businesses. Today, we will outline how we are enhancing Celanese’s strategy to multiply this momentum and deliver double-digit earnings per share growth annually.”

Giving the segment-wise break up, the company informed that the acetyl chain is expected to deliver adjusted EBIT of $900 to $1,000 million in 2023. The business continues to invest in incremental capacity expansions across its network including further investment in Asia to support local innovation. Engineered Materials is expected to deliver adjusted EBIT of $700 to $750 million in 2023. Acetate Tow is expected to deliver a stable adjusted EBIT of approximately $245 million through 2023.

Under the current strategic outlook, the company expects to continue to deliver double-digit adjusted earnings per share growth on an annualized basis. The current financial outlook period will extend through 2023, culminating with expected adjusted earnings per share of $13 to $14 per share in 2023. Over this three-year period, the company expects to generate a total of $4 to $5 billion in operating cash flow to be deployed to drive growth.

“We are accelerating our capital deployment cycle to allocate greater capital to our highest return organic opportunities,” said Richardson.

“We remain committed to returning cash to our shareholders via dividends, which we expect to grow in line with future earnings, as well as share repurchases. Given robust cash generation and the strength of the Celanese balance sheet, we anticipate flexibility to deploy up to $6 billion towards other capital allocation priorities including high-return M&A and share repurchases,” added Richardson.