PSP Agricultural Solutions sales increased 4% in 2017

Platform Specialty Products’ Agricultural Solutions business (Arysta LifeScience) posted an increase of 18% in net sales to $580 million in the fourth quarter 2017 year-over-year; Organic sales increased 15% in this quarter. Adjusted EBITDA in this quarter was $114 million, an increase of 6%.  On a constant currency basis, adjusted EBITDA  increased 5%.

For the full year of 2017, Platform Specialty Products’ Agricultural Solutions business (Arysta LifeScience) were up by 4% in net sales to $1.9 billion year-over-year; Organic sales increased 3%. Adjusted EBITDA in this quarter was $388 million, an increase of 5%.  On a constant currency basis, adjusted EBITDA  increased 6%.

Chief Executive Officer Rakesh Sachdev stated: "I am pleased to report that both of our business segments achieved their key objectives this year as we made good progress towards our longer term financial growth targets of mid-single-digit organic sales growth and high-single-digit adjusted EBITDA growth.  Overall, Platform achieved organic sales growth of 4% and constant currency adjusted EBITDA growth of 7% in 2017 as both businesses grew in most of their key end-markets and geographies.  We invested in market expansion opportunities and new product development while at the same time driving incremental cost improvements in our supply chain and our corporate functions, leading to an enhanced adjusted EBITDA margin.  This improvement in sales and earnings came in a year that saw some end-market and regional margin mix pressures as well as commodity price inflation.  We believe our 2017 performance speaks to the strength and quality of our businesses and the commitment we have to our customers.

We are committed to achieving another year of strong operating results in 2018.  Considering the recent strengthening in currencies against the dollar, we are increasing our previously announced adjusted EBITDA guidance range to $870 million to $900 million, which represents an increase of 8% at the mid-point over 2017.  We expect this earnings growth, the benefit of our reduction in interest expense in 2017, and other cash flow improvements to translate into strong free cash flow generation. This should improve the Company's net debt ratio to less than 5.5x adjusted EBITDA by the end of 2018 - before considering any equity capital that may be raised in connection with the separation of our businesses."

Mr. Sachdev continued, "While we are focused on business execution in 2018, we are also committed to achieving the separation of our two business segments.  We made significant progress against this objective in 2017.  Our teams met our operational separation efforts, and we believe that both companies are ready to operate independently to a high standard with minimal transition service requirements.  We are also making headway in our capital markets initiatives.   We refinanced expensive unsecured debt by raising $800 million of new senior unsecured notes that can remain in place after the separation and which reduced our annual interest expense by approximately $20 million.  We continue to believe that our two companies will be more valuable to our shareholders as separate entities with focused end-market strategies, dedicated leadership teams and healthier balance sheets."