KUWAIT: The EQUATE Group, a global producer of petrochemicals, yesterday announced its Q1 2019 unaudited earnings, reporting $294 million in EBITDA, a 49 percent decrease from $577 million in Q1 2018, and $889 million in revenue, a 28 percent decrease from $1,241 million in Q1 2018. Net income after tax stood at $183 million in Q1 2019, a 57 percent decrease from $435 million in the same period last year.

Commenting on the results, Dr Ramesh Ramachandran, CEO and President of the EQUATE Group, said: "While downstream demand growth has remained stable, uncertainty of tariffs and volatility in global markets has unsettled our customers. The rapid rise in inventory ahead of the Chinese New Year has taken longer than expected to work out. Nevertheless, inventory at end user customers seems to be at the lowest level we have seen in a long time. The bearish sentiment can be overcome when we remove the factors contributing to the uncertainty. Our focus at EQUATE will remain on being the safe, reliable and low-cost producer to ride out this phase of market uncertainty. The construction of US Gulf Coast plant remains on track to go on line before the end of 2019."

The EQUATE Group is a global producer of petrochemicals and the world's second largest producer of ethylene glycol (EG). The Group owns and operates industrial complexes in Kuwait, North America and Europe that annually produce over 6 million tons of ethylene, EG, polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), styrene monomer (SM), paraxylene (PX), heavy aromatics (HA) and benzene (BZ). The EQUATE Group includes EQUATE Petrochemical Co (EQUATE), The Kuwait Olefins Company (TKOC), as well as a number of subsidiaries such as MEGlobal and Equipolymers.

Their products are marketed throughout Asia, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The Group's shareholders are Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), Boubyan Petrochemical Company (BPC) and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC).