By: ICN Bureau
Last updated : March 13, 2021 3:36 pm
Recurring operating income grows 86% and net sales revenue increases 12%, compared to 2019
Braskem recorded a recurring operating result of R $ 11 billion in 2020, 86% higher than in 2019, mainly due to the better resin spreads in the international market due to the high global demand, and the increase in the volume of resin sales in the world.
Sales revenue reached R $ 58 billion, an increase of 12% in relation to the previous year. In this scenario, corporate leverage decreased significantly and ended the year at 2.94x.
"Our main focus continues to be to maintain a high standard of safety and with constant attention to people's health in order to serve customers. We are working to overcome the difficult time that the world is going through with the Covid-19 pandemic and we remain firm in the purpose of solve the challenges that Braskem faces, such as the deleveraging of the Company, to return to being an investment grade company,” Roberto Simões, President, Braskem, said.
In December, Braskem concluded an important advance in relation to the geological event in Alagoas and its potential impacts with the signing of agreements to compensate residents and for social and environmental repair. After the ratification of the agreements with the competent authorities, public civil actions against Braskem related to the compensation of residents and socio-environmental repair in the context of the geological event in Alagoas were extinguished.
The company recorded a net loss of R $ 6.6 billion in the year, mainly due to the provisions related to the geological event in Alagoas, in the amount of R $ 6.9 billion, and the impact of the exchange variation on the financial result due to the depreciation of real against the dollar on a net exposure of US $ 3.4 billion.
In 2020, Braskem announced the expansion of its efforts to become a carbon neutral company by 2050 and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15% by 2030, in addition to expanding its portfolio to have 300 thousand tons by 2025 of thermoplastic resins and chemicals with recycled content; reaching 1 million tons of these products by 2030. And working to ensure that in the next ten years there is an adequate disposal of 1.5 million tons of plastic waste.
In this context, in the fourth quarter of 2020, sales of recycled products reached around 6 thousand tons, an increase of 310% in relation to the previous quarter. In the year, the rate of use of green ethylene was 87%, an increase of 9 percentage points in relation to 2019, and sales of Green PE reached the level of 170 thousand tons, an increase of 5% in relation to the previous year, being the two historical record values since the beginning of the Company's biopolymers operation in 2010.
In energy, Braskem reinforced its strategy of having an increasingly larger base of renewable sources. Last year, it announced important long-term contracts for the purchase of renewable energy, such as with Canadian Solar, one of the largest solar companies in the world.
An important highlight of 2020 was the renewal of the contracts for the supply of naphtha, ethane and propane in Brazil with Petrobras, for a period of about 5 years, guaranteeing the operational efficiency of the units in Brazil for the next years.