Celanese's Q4 2024: Key Contradictions in Divestitures, Engineered Materials, and Working Capital

These are the key contradictions discussed in Celanese's latest 2024 Q4 earnings call, specifically including: Divestiture Strategy and Execution, Engineered Materials Earnings Power, Divestiture Plans and Synergy Expectations, Engineered Materials Performance, Engineered Materials Volume Trends, Acetyl Chain Pricing Dynamics, and Working Capital Expectations:



New Leadership and Strategy:
- Celanese Corporation has appointed new leaders, including Todd Elliott in the Engineered Materials business and Chris Kuehn and Scott Sutton to the Board of Directors, to improve performance and drive shareholder value.
- The company is focusing on reducing complexity, fighting margin compression, and leveraging cash generation to deleverage its balance sheet.

Cost Reduction and Divestitures:
- Celanese has executed over $75 million worth of cost actions and reduced its 2025 capital plan to $300 million to $350 million.
- The company is exploring divestitures to drive deleveraging and is open to multiple smaller divestitures or one larger transaction.

Free Cash Flow Improvement:
- Celanese anticipates free cash flow for 2025 to be higher than 2024, driven by improvements in working capital and cash taxes.
- The company is also reducing CapEx by approximately $100 million.

Outlook and Operational Efficiency:
- The company targets EBITDA improvement in the second half of the year through reversing margin compression, especially in the Engineered Materials and Acetyls businesses.
- Celanese is focusing on optimizing its manufacturing footprint and reducing complexity in the Engineered Materials segment.