Solenis to Increase Prices on Polyacrylamide Polymers and Retention Aids in EMEA

Full Year Highlights *We achieved an improvement in our safety recordable incident rate by approximately 30 percent. *Net sales of $1,028.5 million increased 30 percent compared to 2020, primarily driven by organic volume growth, pricing actions and the impact of the acquisition of Itasa. *In April 2021, we acquired Itasa, a leading global coater and converter of release liners used in hygiene, tapes, industrial labels, composites and various other end markets. The purchase price was $240.2 million, and in the first nine months of ownership, Itasa has generated incremental net sales of $106.9 million. *We executed several operational initiatives, including a $13 million investment in new coating capacity starting up in 2023, closure of our Appleton, Wisconsin facility to save $7-8 million annually, and restarting an idled asset to support growth in premium packaging. *We made meaningful progress on key environmental, social and governance initiatives, including actions designed to reduce energy usage, water consumption and greenhouse gases, recognition through leading sustainability rating agencies (including EcoVadis Gold Medal in Spain and Silver Medal in all other locations) and advancements in the diversity of our Board of Directors (with half identifying as female or underrepresented minorities).

As per the latest study of Tulchin Research, the majority of American consumers prefer paper receipts over digital receipts when it comes to their own purchases from retail sources. The majority of them say that paper receipts have the crucial advantage of being better when it comes to protecting personal information. Tulchin Research is an award-winning public opinion research firm that specializes in opinion surveys. The survey, which was initiated by the Paper Receipt Converting Association (PRCA), was based on responses from 1,000 randomly selected adults 18 years or older in the USA. Three out of four survey respondents preferred paper receipts, while only one fourth preferred a digital receipt sent to their phones by e-mail or text message. Meanwhile, eight out of ten American consumers said they wanted to decide themselves which type of receipt they wanted for their purchases and were not interested in having the decision made for them. “These results are surprising, since they go against the general trend towards digitalization,” Koehler America General Manager Steve Graves says before adding: “This development shows that paper receipts are experiencing a renaissance, and I’m pretty sure that these survey results would be nearly identical if we were to survey Europeans instead.”

UPM Biochemicals has announced the launch of a new range of bio-based plant stimulants, UPM SolargoTM. This launch marks UPM’s entry into the large and profitable agrochemicals market with an innovative, sustainable alternative to fossil raw materials-based products. UPM SolargoTM biostimulants are a highly innovative solution for sustainable agriculture providing scientifically proven benefits for a broad range of crops cultivated in fields and greenhouses with a significantly optimized environmental footprint compared to incumbent fossils-based products. They aid plant growth by improving the quality of soil microbiome and by increasing water retention. Unlike traditional fertilizers, UPM SolargoTM biostimulants do not directly provide nutrients to the plant. Instead, they increase nutrient absorption, utilization efficiency and stress tolerance of the plant. In long term testing, UPM SolargoTM products have shown to increase crop yield and quality. More importantly, UPM SolargoTM has the potential to help significantly reduce demand for classical fertilizers based on nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK), the production and use of which is held responsible for up to 80% of CO2-emissions in crop production1.