VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA—(Marketwire – July 22, 2008) – Methanex Corporation (TSX:MX)(NASDAQ:MEOH)(SANTIAGO:Methanex) – For the second quarter of 2008, Methanex reported Adjusted EBITDA(1) of $78.9 million, net income of $38.9 million and earnings per share of $0.41 (on a diluted basis).
Bruce Aitken, President and CEO of Methanex commented, “The strong methanol price environment resulted in another good quarter of earnings. In the second quarter, we achieved an average realized price of $412 per tonne on sales volumes which were up about 10% over last quarter.”
“Entering the third quarter, the pricing environment remains strong. Overall methanol demand is healthy, despite softness in some derivatives due to general weakness in the economy in some regions. In China, low operating rates coupled with strong demand, including growth into DME and gasoline blending supported by high energy prices, have resulted in China significantly increasing its imports over the quarter. Plant outages across the global industry have also continued, adding further tightness to the market.”
“With the shift to our larger plant in New Zealand in Q3, we will be in a better position to benefit from strong industry conditions. Longer term, we also expect production improvements from Chile, resulting from the gas exploration activities ongoing in southern Chile, and from our Egypt project which is on schedule to be producing methanol by early 2010.”
Mr. Aitken concluded, “Strong cash generation in the second quarter continues to leave us in an excellent financial position. With US$345 million cash on hand at the end of the quarter, a strong balance sheet and a US$250 million undrawn credit facility, we are well positioned to meet our financial commitments related to the Egypt methanol project, pursue opportunities to accelerate natural gas development in southern Chile, pursue opportunities to sponsor methanol demand in new energy applications, pursue other strategic growth initiatives, and continue to deliver on our commitment to return excess cash to shareholders.”
A conference call is scheduled for Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 11:00 am EST (8:00 am PST) to review these second quarter results. To access the call, dial the Telus Conferencing operator ten minutes prior to the start of the call at (416) 883-0139, or toll free at (888) 458-1598. The passcode for the call is 45654. A playback version of the conference call will be available for fourteen days at (877) 653-0545. The reservation number for the playback version is 518973. There will be a simultaneous audio-only webcast of the conference call, which can be accessed from our website at www.methanex.com. In addition, an audio recording of the conference call can be downloaded from our website for three weeks after the call.
Methanex is a Vancouver based, publicly traded company engaged in the worldwide production, distribution and marketing of methanol. 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 STATEMENTS
Information contained in this press release and the attached Second Quarter 2008 Management’s Discussion and Analysis contains forward-looking statements. Certain material factors or assumptions were applied in drawing the conclusions or making the forecasts or projections that are included in these forward-looking statements. Methanex believes that it has a reasonable basis for making such forward-looking statements. However, forward-looking statements, by their nature, involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties include those attendant with producing and marketing methanol and successfully carrying out major capital expenditure projects in various jurisdictions, the ability to successfully carry out corporate initiatives and strategies, conditions in the methanol and other industries including the supply and demand balance for methanol, the success of natural gas exploration and development activities in southern Chile and our ability to obtain any additional gas in that region on commercially acceptable terms, actions of competitors and suppliers, actions of governments and governmental authorities, changes in laws or regulations in foreign jurisdictions, world-wide economic conditions and other risks described in our 2007 Management’s Discussion & Analysis and the attached Second Quarter 2008 Management’s Discussion and Analysis. Undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. They are not a substitute for the exercise of one’s own due diligence and judgment. The outcomes anticipated in forward-looking statements may not occur and we do not undertake to update forward-looking statements. These materials also contain certain non-GAAP financial measures. Non-GAAP financial measures do not have any standardized meaning and therefore are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures used by other companies. For more information regarding these non-GAAP measures, please see our 2007 Management’s Discussion & Analysis and the attached Second Quarter 2008 Management’s Discussion and Analysis.
| (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 Supplemental Non-GAAP Measures in the attached Second Quarter 2008 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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