Tronox Reports Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results
Chief Executive Officer John D. Romano commented, “Tronox’s third quarter results demonstrated continued demand recovery compared to the prior year, though ultimately came in below our expectations as a result of softer than anticipated market conditions as the pace of the recovery slowed late in the quarter. Orders in North America and Latin America met our expectations, while demand in Europe and Asia Pacific was softer than forecasted in the last month of the quarter. Our TiO2 volumes declined 7% sequentially, outside our guidance of a 2-4% decrease compared to the second quarter. Zircon volumes declined 12% sequentially, below our expectation of relatively flat volumes compared to the second quarter, due partially to orders rolling from the third quarter to the fourth quarter as well as weaker than expected demand in China. “On operations, we successfully achieved our targeted average production utilization rate of ~80% for the quarter. However, we have not yet seen the benefit of the lower cost inventory flowing through due to weaker than forecasted demand. The impacts from a weaker market environment along with higher freight costs drove the miss relative to our previously guided range of $145-165 million, resulting in a third quarter Adjusted EBITDA of $143 million and an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 17.8%. Lower sales volume also drove higher finished goods inventory, resulting in a neutral impact from working capital in the quarter.”