VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA—(Marketwire – July 29, 2010) – For the second quarter of 2010, Methanex (TSX:MX)(NASDAQ:MEOH)(SANTIAGO:Methanex) reported Adjusted EBITDA(1) of $56.6 million and net income of $11.7 million ($0.13 per share on a diluted basis). This compares with Adjusted EBITDA of $81.5 million and net income of $29.3 million ($0.31 per share on a diluted basis) for the first quarter of 2010.
Bruce Aitken, President and CEO of Methanex commented, “A slightly lower price environment and a two-month outage at the Atlas plant in Trinidad completed in the second quarter resulted in lower earnings in the second quarter compared to last quarter. While our current level of production and earnings is disappointing, there is significant upside potential to our results with the Egypt Project targeted to start up later this year and initiatives at our other sites to increase production.”
Mr. Aitken added, “Methanol industry conditions remain healthy. While new capacity has started up over the last quarter, some higher cost capacity has shut in and methanol demand has continued to increase and has reached all-time high levels. These factors have brought balance to the market and resulted in a relatively stable pricing environment.”
Mr. Aitken concluded, “With US$178 million of cash on hand, a strong balance sheet, no near term refinancing requirements, and an undrawn credit facility, we are well positioned to continue to invest in our initiatives to increase production.”
A conference call is scheduled for July 29, 2010 at 12:00 noon ET (9:00 am PT) to review these second quarter results. To access the call, dial the Conferencing operator ten minutes prior to the start of the call at (416) 695-6616, or toll free at (800) 769-8320. A playback version of the conference call will be available for fourteen days at (416) 695-5800, or toll free at (800) 408-3053. The passcode for the playback version is 2486657. 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 Second Quarter 2010 press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to us and the chemical industry. Refer to Forward-Looking Information Warning in the attached Second Quarter 2010 Management’s Discussion and Analysis for more information.
| (1) | Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure that does not have any standardized meaning prescribed by Canadian generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and therefore is unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Refer to Additional Information – Supplemental Non-GAAP Measures in the attached Second Quarter 2010 Management’s Discussion and Analysis for a description of each supplemental non-GAAP measure and a reconciliation to the most comparable GAAP measure. |
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For further information, contact:
Jason Chesko
Director, Investor Relations
Methanex Corporation
604-661-2600
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