Positioned to Win

A strong balance sheet
and a scalable platform

We are well-positioned to seize opportunities and meet challenges in the years ahead because of our unique combination of both enduring structural and operational advantages.

Our structural advantages include access to abundant low-cost North American natural gas, operations in import-dependent regions today and for the foreseeable future, and the production of products that are not discretionary, not substitutable and for which global demand consistently grows at about 2 percent per year. Our significant operational advantages include our manufacturing scale, production flexibility, unparalleled storage and distribution assets in North America, and best in-class export capability at our Donaldsonville complex.

We ended 2017 with a strong balance sheet and ample liquidity. In December, we repaid $1.1 billion of our most expensive debt, lowering our interest payments by about 25 percent, or $76 million on an annualized basis. Our cash and cash equivalents were $835 million as of December 31st and our $750 million revolving credit facility was undrawn.

Our cash generation capability will be strengthened over the long term due to changes in U.S. tax laws. We expect the new U.S. corporate tax rate of 21 percent, which is significantly lower than the 35 percent rate we had paid in the past, to result in substantially greater earnings and cash flow for the company. This will allow us additional opportunities to invest in the business and create shareholder value.

Even as we have grown, we have maintained our discipline on corporate costs, demonstrating the scalability of our business. Our SG&A costs remain among the lowest in the industry. Between 2015 and 2017, product tons grew 45 percent while SG&A per product ton decreased 22 percent.