VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA—(Marketwire – April 25, 2012) – Methanex Corporation (TSX:MX)(NASDAQ:MEOH)(SANTIAGO:Methanex) – For the first quarter of 2012, Methanex reported Adjusted EBITDA(1) of $93 million and Adjusted net income(1) of $39 million ($0.41 per share on a diluted basis(1)). This compares with Adjusted EBITDA(1) of $133 million and Adjusted net income(1) of $65 million ($0.69 per share on a diluted basis(1)) for the fourth quarter of 2011.
Methanex also announced that its Board of Directors has approved a 9 percent increase to its quarterly dividend to shareholders, from $0.17 to $0.185 per share. The increased dividend will apply commencing with the dividend payable on June 30, 2012 to holders of common shares on record on June 16, 2012.
Bruce Aitken, President and CEO of Methanex, commented, “Our earnings for the first quarter were impacted by lower sales of Methanex-produced methanol and one-off items and we expect to deliver stronger earnings as the year progresses. Methanol demand has remained healthy, the pricing environment has been stable and we reported another good quarter of cash flow generation. The outlook for the industry also looks very attractive, as demand growth is expected to significantly exceed new capacity additions over the next few years.”
Mr. Aitken added, “With a positive outlook for the methanol industry and the strong performance of our new plants in Egypt and Medicine Hat, I am pleased to confirm that our Board has approved another increase to our regular dividend. This represents the eighth increase since we implemented a dividend in 2002. And, we have significant upside potential to production and cash generation over the next few years. We are on target to restart a second plant in New Zealand in Q3 2012 and we continue to make good progress on the Louisiana relocation project which should benefit significantly from competitively priced natural gas in North America.”
Mr. Aitken concluded, “With over US$500 million of cash on hand, an undrawn credit facility, a robust balance sheet, and strong cash flow generation, we are well positioned to repay our $200 million bond coming due in August, invest in the Louisiana relocation project and other strategic opportunities to grow the Company, and continue to deliver on our commitment to return excess cash to shareholders.”
A conference call is scheduled for April 26, 2012 at 12:00 noon ET (9:00 am PT) to review these first quarter results. To access the call, dial the Conferencing operator ten minutes prior to the start of the call at (416) 340-8018, or toll free at (866) 223-7781. A playback version of the conference call will be available for three weeks at (905) 694-9451, or toll free at (800) 408-3053. The passcode for the playback version is 2530127. There will be a simultaneous audio-only webcast of the conference call, which can be accessed from our website at www.methanex.com. The webcast will be available on our website for three weeks following the call.
Methanex is a Vancouver-based, publicly traded company and is the world’s largest supplier of methanol to major international markets. Methanex shares are listed for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada under the trading symbol “MX”, on the NASDAQ Global Market in the United States under the trading symbol “MEOH”, and on the foreign securities market of the Santiago Stock Exchange in Chile under the trading symbol “Methanex”. Methanex can be visited online at www.methanex.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION WARNING
This First Quarter 2012 press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to us and the chemical industry. Refer to Forward-Looking Information Warning in the attached First Quarter 2012 Management’s Discussion and Analysis for more information.
| (1) | Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted net income and Adjusted net income per common share are non-GAAP measures which do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP. These measures represent the amounts that are attributable to Methanex Corporation shareholders and are calculated by excluding amounts associated with the 40% non-controlling interest in the methanol facility in Egypt and the mark-to-market impact of items which impact the comparability of our earnings from one period to another, which currently include only the mark-to-market impact of share-based compensation as a result of changes in our share price. Refer to Additional Information – Supplemental Non-GAAP Measures of the attached Interim Report for the three months ended March 31, 2012 for reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures. |
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For further information, contact:
Jason Chesko
Director, Investor Relations
Methanex Corporation
604-661-2600
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