Chemanol does not need additional financing, methanol prices seen rising until 2022-end: Chairman

Chemanol Chairman Ali Abdulaziz Alturki

Methanol Chemicals Co. (Chemanol) does not need additional financing as it is able to repay its operational obligations and loans through its own resources, Chairman Ali Al-Turki told Argaam via a phone call.

He added that the chemicals producer is considering refinancing some loans with a low interest margin, and will announce the repayment mechanism and refinancing in due course.

The company’s total loans reached SAR 664 million at the end of Q1 2022, Al-Turki said, noting that Chemanol plans to repay half of its loans over a maximum of eight years and at lower interest rates, so loans will reach SAR 350 million at the end of 2022.

The Tadawul-listed firm maintained Q1 2022 product prices at the same level as the previous quarter, the Chairman noted, expecting that the prices of methanol and its derivatives to rise globally and continue on the upward trajectory until the end of 2022, due to the significant increase in natural gas prices.

Al-Turki added that the company is still impacted by the supply chain crisis and high costs of some raw materials. Thus, it mapped out plans to hedge against this impact in 2022.

Commenting on withdrawing the capital increase file, he said the company’s historic financial performance in 2021 and Q1 2022 led to recording a net operating cash flow worth SAR 196 million in 2021 and posting a net profit of SAR 102 million.

“This robust performance is expected to continue until the end of the year, which confirms the accuracy and validity of the board’s decision to withdraw the capital increase file as the company no longer needs it,” the top official said.

With regard to the methanol plant expansion project, he indicated that the firm started the engineering work and the construction work will likely be launched at the end of this year. “The expansion comes as part of the company’s plan to create an added value through the production of specialized materials derived from methanol, especially as it does not aim to sell the basic methanol product.”

Al-Turki further said the company plans to open new markets, focus on selling products with high profitability, as well as enhance the operational efficiency and reliability programs in 2022. In addition, the company aims to repay half of its loans and study additional expansion projects that will be announced after completing the required procedures.

Chemanol posted a net profit after Zakat and tax of SAR 102.7 million for Q1 2022, compared with SAR 29.9 million a year earlier, according to data available with Argaam.