Stepan CEO provides outlook

Stepan CEO Scott Behrens said, “Looking forward, we believe sales volumes will continue to gradually improve due to ongoing recovery in Rigid Polyols and growth in Surfactant volumes including the expected recovery of the Agricultural business in the second half of the year. We remain focused on delivering $50M in pre-tax savings from our previously shared cost reduction program to help offset inflationary pressures, increased expenses associated with the commissioning of our new Pasadena alkoxylation assets, higher incentive-based compensation expenses and expenses associated with the operational issues at our Millsdale site. Free cash flow should continue to improve versus prior year as we finish construction on our Pasadena investment and benefit from higher Agriculture volumes in the second half of the year. Continued gradual growth in market volumes, improved operational performance and our continued focus on cost reduction should position us to deliver full year adjusted EBITDA growth and positive free cash flow. We remain confident in our long-term growth and innovation initiatives.”