Celanese Aims To Grow Its Adj. Earnings At Compound Annual Growth Rate Of 10%

(RTTNews) - Celanese Corp. (CE) announced strategies and initiatives that are expected to grow adjusted earnings and cash flow through 2018 at a compound annual growth rate of 10 percent and 15 percent, respectively. Driven by continued earnings growth and decreasing capital expenditures, the company expects to generate approximately $2.5 billion in free cash flow from 2016 to 2018. Celanese said it will continue to increase its cash dividend.

Celanese said the company will enhance its organic growth opportunities with a thoughtful acquisition strategy that is aligned with its complementary core businesses and drives increasing earnings and free cash flow. Combined, the contributions of both cores and capital deployment actions are expected to drive adjusted earnings in the range of $8.00 to $8.50 per share by 2018, representing a compound annual growth rate of 10%.

To enhance the earnings power of the Acetyl Chain, the company announced that it will expand annual production capacity for acetic acid by 150kt and vinyl acetate monomer by 150kt at its integrated facility in Clear Lake, Texas. The acetic acid and VAM expansions are expected be completed by 2016 and 2018, respectively.

The company announced that it will expand its high-end product portfolio by adding two premium product grades of polyether ether ketone in 2016.