Albemarle 10-Q 2022-03-31

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D. C. 20549

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FORM 10-Q

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For Quarterly Period Ended March 31, 2022

OR

For the transition period from to

Commission File Number 1-12658

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ALBEMARLE CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

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4250 Congress Street, Suite 900

Charlotte, North Carolina 28209

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code - (980) 299-5700

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Number of shares of common stock, $.01 par value, outstanding as of April 30, 2022: 117,112,692

ALBEMARLE CORPORATION

INDEX – FORM 10-Q

PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

ALBEMARLE CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME

(In Thousands, Except Per Share Amounts)

(Unaudited)

See accompanying Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

ALBEMARLE CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE (LOSS) INCOME

(In Thousands)

(Unaudited)

See accompanying Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

ALBEMARLE CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In Thousands)

(Unaudited)

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Forward-looking Statements

Some of the information presented in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including the documents incorporated by reference, may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, which are in turn based on assumptions that we believe are reasonable based on our current knowledge of our business and operations. We have used words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “should,” “would,” “will” and variations of such words and similar expressions to identify such forward-looking statements.

These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. There can be no assurance that our actual results will not differ materially from the results and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the outlook expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement include, without limitation, information related to:

• changes in economic and business conditions;

• product development;

• future acquisition and divestiture transactions, including the ability to successfully execute, operate and integrate acquisitions and divestitures and incurring additional indebtedness;

• expected benefits from proposed transactions;

• timing of active and proposed projects;

• changes in financial and operating performance of our major customers and industries and markets served by us;

• the timing of orders received from customers;

• the gain or loss of significant customers;

• competition from other manufacturers;

• changes in the demand for our products or the end-user markets in which our products are sold;

• limitations or prohibitions on the manufacture and sale of our products;

• availability of raw materials;

• increases in the cost of raw materials and energy, and our ability to pass through such increases to our customers;

• technological change and development;

• changes in our markets in general;

• fluctuations in foreign currencies;

• changes in laws and government regulation impacting our operations or our products;

• the occurrence of regulatory actions, proceedings, claims or litigation (including with respect to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and foreign anti-corruption laws);

• the effects of climate change, including any regulatory changes to which we might be subject;

• the occurrence of cyber-security breaches, terrorist attacks, industrial accidents or natural disasters;

• hazards associated with chemicals manufacturing;

• the inability to maintain current levels of insurance, including product or premises liability insurance, or the denial of such coverage;

• political unrest affecting the global economy, including adverse effects from terrorism or hostilities;

• political instability affecting our manufacturing operations or joint ventures;

• changes in accounting standards;

• the inability to achieve results from our global manufacturing cost reduction initiatives as well as our ongoing continuous improvement and rationalization programs;

• changes in the jurisdictional mix of our earnings and changes in tax laws and rates or interpretation;

• changes in monetary policies, inflation or interest rates that may impact our ability to raise capital or increase our cost of funds, impact the performance of our pension fund investments and increase our pension expense and funding obligations;

• volatility and uncertainties in the debt and equity markets;

• technology or intellectual property infringement, including through cyber-security breaches, and other innovation risks;

• decisions we may make in the future;

• continuing uncertainties as to the duration and impact of the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic;

• performance of Albemarle’s partners in joint ventures and other projects;

• changes in credit ratings; and

• the other factors detailed from time to time in the reports we file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

We assume no obligation to provide revisions to any forward-looking statements should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by securities and other applicable laws. The following discussion should be read together with our condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

The following is a discussion and analysis of our results of operations for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2022 and 2021. A discussion of our consolidated financial condition and sources of additional capital is included under a separate heading “Financial Condition and Liquidity.”

Overview

We are a leading global developer, manufacturer and marketer of highly-engineered specialty chemicals that are designed to meet our customers’ needs across a diverse range of end markets. Our corporate purpose is making the world safe and sustainable by powering the potential of people. The end markets we serve include energy storage, petroleum refining, consumer electronics, construction, automotive, lubricants, pharmaceuticals and crop protection. We believe that our commercial and geographic diversity, technical expertise, access to high-quality resources, innovative capability, flexible, low-cost global manufacturing base, experienced management team and strategic focus on our core base technologies will enable us to maintain leading positions in those areas of the specialty chemicals industry in which we operate.

Secular trends favorably impacting demand within the end markets that we serve combined with our diverse product portfolio, broad geographic presence and customer-focused solutions will continue to be key drivers of our future earnings growth. We continue to build upon our existing green solutions portfolio and our ongoing mission to provide innovative, yet commercially viable, clean energy products and services to the marketplace to contribute to our sustainable revenue. For example, our Lithium business contributes to the growth of clean miles driven with electric miles and more efficient use of renewable energy through grid storage; Bromine enables the prevention of fires starting in electronic equipment, greater fuel efficiency from rubber tires and the reduction of emissions from coal fired power plants; and the Catalysts business creates efficiency of natural resources through more usable products from a single barrel of oil, enables safer, greener production of alkylates used to produce more environmentally-friendly fuels, and reduced emissions through cleaner transportation fuels. We believe our disciplined cost reduction efforts and ongoing productivity improvements, among other factors, position us well to take advantage of strengthening economic conditions as they occur, while softening the negative impact of the current challenging global economic environment.

First Quarter 2022

During the first quarter of 2022:

• Our board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.395 per share on February 24, 2022, which was paid on April 1, 2022 to shareholders of record at the close of business as of March 18, 2022.

• In January 2022, we signed a joint development agreement with 6K to explore the use of 6K’s patented UniMelt® advanced, sustainable materials production platform to develop novel lithium battery materials through potentially disruptive manufacturing processes.

• In February 2022, we announced that we signed a non-binding letter agreement with our MARBL joint venture partner, Mineral Resources Limited (“MRL”), to explore a potential expansion of the MARBL joint venture, in an effort to expand lithium conversion capacity with increased optionality and re

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There have been no significant changes in our interest rate risk, foreign currency exchange rate exposure, marketable securities price risk or raw material price risk from the information we provided in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, except as noted below.

During the first quarter of 2021, we repaid the remaining principal balance of our 1.875% Euro-denominated senior notes. Prior to this repayment, the carrying value these notes was designated as an effective hedge of our net investment in certain foreign subsidiaries where the Euro serves as the functional currency, and gains or losses on the revaluation of these senior notes to our reporting currency were recorded in accumulated other comprehensive loss. Upon repayment of these notes, this net investment hedge was discontinued. The balance of foreign exchange revaluation gains and losses associated with this discontinued net investment hedge will remain within accumulated other comprehensive loss until the hedged net investment is sold or liquidated.

We had variable interest rate borrowings of $518.2 million outstanding at March 31, 2022, bearing a weighted average interest rate of 0.51% and representing 21% of our total outstanding debt. A hypothetical 100 basis point increase in the interest rate applicable to these borrowings would change our annualized interest expense by approximately $5.2 million as of March 31, 2022. We may enter into interest rate swaps, collars or similar instruments with the objective of reducing interest rate volatility relating to our borrowing costs.

Our financial instruments, which are subject to foreign currency exchange risk, consist of foreign currency forward contracts with an aggregate notional value of $573.0 million and with a fair value representing a net asset position of $6.3 million at March 31, 2022. Fluctuations in the value of these contracts are generally offset by the value of the underlying exposures being hedged. We conducted a sensitivity analysis on the fair value of our foreign currency hedge portfolio assuming an instantaneous 10% change in select foreign currency exchange rates from their levels as of March 31, 2022, with all other variables held constant. A 10% appreciation of the U.S. Dollar against foreign currencies that we hedge would result in a decrease of approximately $39.0 million in the fair value of our foreign currency forward contracts. A 10% depreciation of the U.S. Dollar against these foreign currencies would result in an increase of approximately $44.0 million in the fair value of our foreign currency forward contracts. The sensitivity of the fair value of our foreign currency hedge portfolio represents changes in fair values estimated based on market conditions as of March 31, 2022, without reflecting the effects of underlying anticipated transactions. When those anticipated transactions are realized, actual effects of changing foreign currency exchange rates could have a material impact on our earnings and cash flows in future periods.

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act), as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based on this evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that, as of the end of the period covered by this report, our disclosure controls and procedures are effective to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under

the Exchange Act, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

No change in our internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f)) occurred during the first quarter ended March 31, 2022 that materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

PART II. OTHER INFORMATION

We are involved from time to time in legal proceedings of types regarded as common in our business, including administrative or judicial proceedings seeking remediation under environmental laws, such as Superfund, products liability, breach of contract liability and premises liability litigation. Where appropriate, we may establish financial reserves for such proceedings. We also maintain insurance to mitigate certain of such risks. Additional information with respect to this Item 1 is contained in Note 10 to the Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

While we attempt to identify, manage and mitigate risks and uncertainties associated with our business to the extent practical under the circumstances, some level of risk and uncertainty will always be present. The risk factors set forth in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 describe some of the risks and uncertainties associated with our business. These risks and uncertainties have the potential to materially affect our results of operations and our financial condition. We do not believe that there have been any material changes to the risk factors previously disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.

(a) Exhibits

Attached as Exhibit 101 to this report are the following documents formatted in XBRL: (i) the Consolidated Statements of Income for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, (ii) the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, (iii) the Consolidated Balance Sheets at March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, (iv) the Consolidated Statements of Changes in Equity for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, (v) the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021 and (vi) the Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.