Good morning. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for taking time for joining us for Indorama Ventures' full year 2024 results briefing meeting. My name is Vikash Jalan, Investor Relations and Planning at IVL. Joining me today, Mr. D K Agarwal, Deputy Group CEO; Muthukumar Paramasivam and Kumar Ladha, President and Co-Leaders for CPET Segment; Alastair Port, joining us online from the U.S., Executive President for Indovinya; and Diego Boeri, Executive President for Fibers. A quick disclaimer: this meeting is being recorded, and a replay of this session will be available on our website after the meeting. We have made a few assumptions and estimates on future industry and business trends based on our analysis of available information at this point in time.
So, with that, I now invite Mr. Agarwal to first share the business and financial highlights, and after the prepared presentation, we'll open up the session to the floor for Q&A. Over to you, please, Mr. Agarwal.
Thank you, Vikash. A very good morning to all of you joining us on the year-end analyst meeting. As we always present, let us review the macroeconomic landscape which directly or indirectly impacted the industry as well as our business. The world is passing through one of the biggest turmoil periods. In Q4, the U.S. and China saw some marginal improvement supported by rising production and new orders, while Europe remained challenging due to weak demand, as you can see on the extreme left top graph. The freight rates declined due to additional vessel capacity which got added, and we also saw improvement in the Red Sea crisis. On the energy front, weak demand and ample supply kept oil prices lower. They have been very volatile in Q4 2024.
Meanwhile, interest rates marginally declined as inflation continues to be moderated, although, as you know, post-Trump policies, we see that interest rates may remain elevated for some time. Looking at what the recent U.S. elections have impacted on our business, are expected to support the U.S. economy in the coming years. As you know, IVL has been a geographically diversified company as a local producer in the United States, generating nearly 40% of the revenue of IVL and 50% of the EBITDA. And if you take entire Americas, include Brazil and America, Brazil and Mexico, it is 70% of IVL EBITDA. So, IVL, we believe, will extend to benefit from potential tariff increases which may happen, potential corporate tax reductions, and lower shale gas prices driven by increased oil and gas production as drill, baby drill works.
However, this wind also brings headwinds, starting with inflationary pressure that could impact demand for certain products, particularly in the consumer demands like Indovinya and Fibers. Additionally, potential trade barriers would benefit IVL operations due to local production base, as I mentioned. With these challenges, our significant presence in the United States provides us a strong advantage, and overall, we expect a positive impact for IVL from this move in the United States. If you go now, let me walk you through the financial results for the entire year. In 2024, we know that industry has been very challenging. IVL took decisions timely, actions to fortify its market leadership, and secured a sustainable growth path as the company pivots towards seismic generational change in the chemical industry. In a year of alignment, mobilization, and launch management began executing a company's three-year IVL 2.0 transformation strategy.
As you remember, in CMD, we announced in March with a singular focus on optimizing global assets. This means shutting down high-cost assets, reducing debt, enhancing cash flows, and implementing next-generation digital and leadership program to achieve our stated 2026 targets. Now, this, I'm very happy to report that these disciplined self-help management actions helped bolster full-year earnings as global chemical markets continue to struggle through 2024 in one of the most challenging downturns in the recent industry history, as you might have noticed from results from many chemical industries. The industry's future is being irrevocably shaped by long-term macroeconomic themes, including the unequal impact of peak oil between East and West, as we know, the feedstock disparity between East and West, China's ambition to continue to expand its own production, India's enormous growth engine, and one of the most unstable geopolitical environments in a generation.
Amid this volatile backdrop, we are satisfied that IVL posted a full-year reported EBITDA of $1.4 billion in 2024, which is an increase of 26%, an adjusted EBITDA of $1.522 billion, an increase of 10% year-on-year. Though performance varied from business to business, improved volume across all segments and proactive management actions resulted in the overall improved earnings for the year. The pivots made this year from the assessment of make versus buy decision. As you know, we shut down a lot of PTA capacity. We went into buying PTA, resulted in a 4% year-on-year rise in volumes. So, we protected our end market on a like-to-like basis. Persistent overcapacity, particularly in our petrochemical business and PET, kept benchmark spreads under pressure, affecting the integrated PET and MTBE businesses.
There were some tailwinds as polyester fiber and integrated MEG spreads improved through the year, boosting Lifestyle fiber and maintaining intermediate chemical performance. You will see this in coming slides. Although there was an increase in volumes, industry challenges offset these advantages. Steps taken by the management and a strong emphasis on cost control have significantly contributed to the improved performance this year. The asset optimization plan outlined in March, where we decided to rationalize a few high-cost facilities, has thus far yielded an additional $48 million in fixed cost reduction in 2024, with further enhancement expected as rationalization progresses and additional savings materialize to support earnings growth in 2025. We expect another $100 million additional fixed cost saving coming in 2025. These actions have contributed to a higher operating rate for the group, climbing 8% this year.
Still, in light of continued industry pressure, the company has determined that further management actions are necessary in addition to the significant measures already undertaken in 2024 in a sustained drive to achieve our stated IVL 2.0 objectives. And we'll discuss these further details in the upcoming chemical markets in March 2025, which is a week ahead. Lower energy costs, especially in Europe, provided an uplift of $55 million year-on-year across the group. Moreover, significant currency movements in certain markets, as you know, the currencies weakened: Brazil, Nigeria, and Egypt brought a $48 million reduction in our fixed conversion cost, including variable and fixed. In 2024, looking at cash flow, IVL generated $1.33 billion of cash flow from operations, of which $110 million was used for one-time severance and related expenses.
As you know, we shut down some facilities, and $229 million was spent on higher short-term working capital to stabilize the supply chain for PTA and PX purchases. You know, we landed up with some high inventories in CPET business, and this extra working capital outflow is expected to reverse as cash flows in 2025 as the supply chain stabilizes. You will be pleased to note that fiber nearly improved their working capital by $100 million. So, CPET increased by $300 plus, and I think they will get normalized very soon in the next coming two quarters. The consolidated Q4 adjusted EBITDA year-on-year was higher by 29% from improved operation, but lower quarter-on-quarter by 16% due to seasonality. So, that's on the fourth quarter. Now, it's important to get an update on IVL 2.0. It's a quick snapshot summarizing the update on asset optimization program.
In Q2 2024, we executed a comprehensive asset rationalization program aimed at strengthening our asset base, improving cash flow, and enhancing quality of earnings. We took the bold steps of shutting down our PET/PTA assets in Rotterdam, PTA assets in Canada, EO assets in Australia, and others where already impairments were taken in Q2 2024. These actions, as I mentioned earlier, are already yielding results, with initial fixed cost saving of $48 million realized in 2024, on track to achieve a saving of $160-$170 million per annum, which will basically translate into an EBITDA upliftment of $130-$140 million per annum by 2025-2026. Alongside these cost savings, operating rates improved to 82% in the second half of 2024, and 495 manpower reductions achieved in 2024 on these sites. This excludes the people with whom we are further rationalizing in the fiber business.
We also anticipate a one-time cash inflow of $150-$200 million from land sales related to these rationalized assets. Now, these are not accounted at present. This will be accounted on cash basis, except for Rotterdam, where we have accounted for $51 million as a firm agreement is getting reached with the buyer. We'll further provide an update on IVL 2.0 in our coming CMD next week. Now, let us see our results in 2024 in more detail versus 2023. As I mentioned, IVL delivered 2024 adjusted EBITDA of $1.52 billion, which is an increase of 10% year-on-year from the performance against the performance year of 2023. As I mentioned, supported by a reduction in destocking challenges, a moderate recovery in volume growth by 4%, and fixed cost saving from rationalization efforts. If you look at segment-wise, CPET performance improved, benefiting from a stronger performance in Specialty Chemicals.
Cost savings from rationalization efforts helped offset the softer China benchmark spreads, as you know, the China benchmark spreads have been very weak, demonstrating the effectiveness of our ongoing efficiency initiatives. Despite external market challenges, strategic cost controls, and specialty product strengthened helped maintain the profitability of this segment. Looking ahead, the segment expects improved earnings supported by further fixed cost reduction, as you will get annualized benefit from asset rationalization. Intermediate chemical performance got impacted due to lower MTBE margins because MTBE margins dropped, but they were offset with improved integrated MEG margins due to shale gas advantage. Indovinya delivered a strong performance with adjusted EBITDA up 29% year-on-year. Sales volume grew 4%, driven by destocking normalization and demand recovery in South America. North America benefited from higher integrated margins, while South America saw gains from a stronger sales mix.
Volume growth was supported by crop solutions and Home and Personal Care, with an additional $100 million in licensing income from downstream products. These are PO licensing. Now, looking at the fiber business, the growth in fiber segment was primarily driven by improved Lifestyle benchmark spreads. We have seen improvement in the fiber benchmark spreads in China and higher volumes in all market segments, showing positive momentum in all three verticals. Moreover, the segment was benefited from reduced fixed costs through various management actions. The consolidated Q4 adjusted EBITDA year-on-year was higher by 29%, as you can see $328 million, from improved operation, but lower quarter-on-quarter by 15% due to seasonality factors, as you know, Q4 is normally weaker. Now, this is an important slide to look at the regional breakdown of IVL performance.
Looking at performance on a regional level in 2024, the company demonstrated robust regional performance across key markets. I think that's where the geographical diversity paid. You can see that Asia delivered a stronger performance, primarily supported by better Lifestyle fibers, benefiting from improved PSF margins. CPET performance remained resilient due to increased volumes and higher premiums despite lower benchmark spreads. The Americas, which constitutes 70% of the IVL EBITDA, continued to be a core strength due to its consolidated and well-protected market environment, which contributes nearly, as I mentioned, 70% of the EBITDA. Operations in Indovinya, which is basically entirely in the Americas, delivered relatively better results, while CPET faced some challenges in MTBE performance, which were normalized and offset with the improvement in integrated MEG margins.
Meanwhile, the EMEA regions, and you can see a big swing in EMEA regions, experienced a significant turnaround, and this is the impact of our rationalization of the asset. The strategic asset rationalization and CPET enabled the company to adopt a make-or-buy approach for PTA procurement, thereby replacing the high-cost production with more cost-efficient purchasing. Additionally, fiber business achieved cost savings through transformation actions, further enhancing the region's recovery. This gives you a reasonable breakdown of the earnings. Now, I hand over to Muthu to take us through the CPET performance. Thank you.
Thank you, Kumar Ji. Sawasdee ka. Good morning, everyone. We will cover the CPET segment in specific. CPET, along with Intermediate Chemicals, delivered an adjusted EBITDA of $1,012 million, a solid 5% year-over-year increase, demonstrating our ability to navigate market headwinds while executing strategic optimizations as well as driving resilience through our management actions.
Looking at combined PET here, which excludes IC, we will look at Intermediate Chemicals separately in a slide. Without IC, we delivered an adjusted EBITDA of $768 million, as you can see here. Overall, stronger Specialty Chemicals performance, as we saw earlier, and the cost savings is quite important from the asset rationalization helped offset the weaker China benchmark spreads, which dropped about $22 from 2023 to 2024. Now, integrated PET was focused on managing the oversupply while enhancing efficiency, delivering $596 million in adjusted EBITDA, which is a drop of 4% year-over-year. Agile management actions, including $47 million in fixed cost savings from asset rationalization and stable PET sales volumes, minimized this impact from the oversupply situation and the drop in industry benchmark spreads. As we discussed earlier, we see the full benefit of the rationalization coming in 2025-2026.
The rationalization efforts, as you all know, in 2024, a lot of it was focused on the CPET, this business, resulting from a comprehensive review of make-or-buy opportunities for PTA and the evolving industry landscape. Our management maintained PET sales through these efforts, with volumes improving by 1% on a like-to-like basis through the year, underscoring resilient end-market demand. In 2023 globally, there was a contraction in demand, which significantly improved in 2024, and we are estimating a growth of about 6% globally on the PET demand, including rPET. Looking ahead, 2025 will see full benefits of these rationalization efforts, including further fixed cost savings and a one-time gain of approximately $100 million from planned land sales from these rationalized assets.
Now, looking at Packaging, this vertical gave stable margins in a high-value business with an adjusted EBITDA of $98 million, which is a drop of 5% year-over-year, but a gain of 9% from volume growth, as well as cost reduction measures were offset by reduced spreads due to the sharp devaluation in Nigerian and Egyptian currencies. Despite this, the business maintained a healthy EBITDA margin of 20%, reinforcing its position as a high-margin, value-driven segment. Now, looking at the Specialty Chemicals, this is a really strong turnaround story, with adjusted EBITDA surging from $7 million in 2023 to $74 million in 2024. And there has been a growth both in volumes and spreads, and a lot of the benefit also came from the management actions taken on improving operational efficiency and market strategy. We will have some more detailed discussion on Specialty Chemicals in the next slide.
Now, looking at the Specialty Chemicals, this vertical reported marginal improvement in performance this year, driven by higher volumes and lower energy costs. Similar to Specialty Chemicals, what we did last year, we have formed a new dedicated management team for the recycling vertical in order to bring more additional focus and forming a strong platform on recycling for future value creation. We just wanted to show, highlight what turnaround has been made on the Specialty Chemicals on this slide as a case study, let us say. Specialty Chemicals, which is, you know, we talked about this turnaround, and the reason why we want to show is also to demonstrate our forward-looking business plan for the next three years, which has been focused on developing our value-added portfolio, and in this slide, you can see the progress that we are making in that trend.
Now, after a low point in 2023, where the EBITDA was only $7 million, we have actually worked on making a significant recovery, which has shown the EBITDA increasing to $74 million. Now, this has been driven by a clear focus on operational excellence, organizational capacity and agility, as well as the market strategy, how we are optimizing the product value mix and the value pricing. So, on the operational efficiency side, we have, through our management actions, enhanced the plant reliability and yields, ensuring more efficient operations, as well as a considerable reduction in fixed cost. As far as the organization is concerned, we have reorganized to support innovation and growth, making our business more agile and responsive to evolving customer needs.
On the approach to market, go-to-market strategy, it is focused on value pricing and an expanded customer and application base, looking at several new applications and high-value applications in premium markets, leveraging on the strong partnerships that IVL has had with our global base of customers. Now, after this performance 2024, we do see even greater potential ahead for this vertical, with more than 400 customers, including large global brands, 39 patents, and a solid pipeline of innovative products. With some of these new innovations, we have also shown as pictures here. We are actively pursuing new levers for further growth in Specialty Chemicals, and we will make sure that this momentum continues. With that, I'll hand it over to my co-leader, Kumar Ladha.
Thank you, Muthu. In 2024, Intermediate Chemicals delivered an adjusted EBITDA of $244 million, reflecting some stability amid market adjustments.
The segment saw good performance in integrated MEG and PEO business, benefiting from improved Asian MEG margins and a sustained shale gas advantage. However, MTBE business did face some headwinds as industry margins normalized from a record high in 2023, declining from $651 per ton to $445 a ton, impacted by new capacity additions. From a quarterly perspective, in the fourth quarter of 2024, Intermediate Chemicals reported an adjusted EBITDA of $49 million, marking a 31% quarter-on-quarter decline that was driven by seasonal shift in MTBE spreads, partially offset by normalization gas cracker operations. We saw MTBE performance soften as spreads fell from $460 a ton in the third quarter of 2024 to $249 a ton in the fourth quarter of 2024, mainly due to seasonal demand weakness and higher winter heating-related feedstock costs. Integrated MEG and PEO rebounded quarter-on-quarter, supported by the resumption of gas cracker operations.
Thank you. Now, I hand it to Alastair, who is joining us online.
Thanks, Kumar, and good morning, everybody. There's quite an echo. Is that okay? I'll keep going. Indovinya delivered a strong financial performance in 2024, with adjusted EBITDA rising to $352 million, which was a robust 29% year-on-year increase. The sales volume grew 4% year-on-year, primarily driven by the destocking normalization and demand recovery in South America, and this all supported a very positive momentum. The North American portfolio benefited from improved integrated margins, while the South American portfolio had a marked boost from improved sales mix towards higher margin products. Overall, each end market contributed to contribution margin growth year-on-year, driven primarily by the Crop Solutions business and Home and Personal Care. In 2024, there was an additional licensing income of $11 million from downstream products, as DK mentioned.
Management action on the Australian facility has been completed in 2024. This brought fixed cost reductions of $1 million in 2024. However, we should see $15 million in 2025 ongoing. The segment continues to serve our Australian customers through a trading model from its global network of sites, including India, from which benefits are to be reflected in our 2025 results. The segment continues its trajectory towards specialty offerings, with an agreement signed in 2024 to acquire two well-known brands from Cargill for the energy and resource market. These will augment both product offerings and also enhance our margins. Our strategy remains focused on driving sales growth and expanding our market presence, while internal transformation initiatives continue to unlock value. This disciplined approach reinforces our foundation for sustainable growth and long-term success in Indovinya. So, as you know, Indovinya's portfolio is primarily driven by our HVA product portfolio.
This makes up about 75% of our sales volume and delivers an EBITDA margin of about 18% in 2024 and 17% in Q4. Our Essentials business, which accounts for the remaining 25% of sales volume, is closely integrated with the production of these HVAs, creating operational synergies. The Essentials portfolio follows the commodity life cycle and will gradually improve as the upcycle gains traction. In 2024, Essentials have shown a significant improvement year-on-year amid ongoing market challenges. As we think about our market segments, Home and Personal Care, the demand remained resilient. The segments benefited from the launch of new products and optimized sales mix, which have collectively cumulated in enhanced profitability. On our crop solutions business, year-on-year growth was supported by favorable post-destocking conditions and consistent supply service from Indovinya, which is recognized for its competitive local positioning, particularly in facilitating last-minute purchase decisions on low stock levels.
These factors have contributed to a notable increase in our market share. For energy and resources, despite operating in a more competitive environment in Q4, due to the resumption of operations of key competitors in the U.S. following a force majeure event, the segments continued to deliver solid sales performance. In Coatings and Construction, this segment experienced year-on-year growth driven by a recovering market and increased market share, along with a better product mix. Thank you. I'll hand over to my colleague, Diego.
Good morning. Good morning, everybody. In 2024, fiber segment delivered an adjusted EBITDA of $159 million, reflecting a strong 26% year-on-year growth and 57% year-on-year if we exclude the one-time insurance payment that impacted positively 2023. The growth was primarily driven by improved industry spreads in the Lifestyle and higher volumes across all market segments. Let's now break it down by market.
In Lifestyle, we achieved a significant improvement with an adjusted EBITDA of $40 million, marking a robust 205% year-on-year growth. This was driven by improved fiber industry spreads and 5% year-on-year increase in volumes due to higher demand. The European restructuring of our Lifestyle business announced in Q3 will consolidate the filament assets, enhance operating rates, and reduce fixed costs by $13 million. The machine relocation has begun and is expected to be completed by Q2 2025. In the Asian market, we report an adjusted EBITDA of $47 million, which is an increase of 17% year-on-year, driven by rising volumes and high margin by using competitive raw material from Asia. In Mobility, we delivered an adjusted EBITDA of $72 million, a 50% increase from the previous year, excluding the one-time insurance payment, and this is an all-time performance year for us. Growth was driven by higher replacement, higher demand.
OEM demand remained weak, though a rebound has been observed in recent weeks, supported by government stimulus in China. Management action on fixed cost optimization are yielding results with $19 million year-on-year reduction net of inflation. As of now, all fixed cost reductions do not yet include savings from our four plant asset rationalization activities in this segment, which will be implemented in 2025. Back to you, DK.
Thank you, Diego. So now let's look at the summary of the results from 2023 to 2024. I think you heard all the business segments, and this bridge shows you the complete what management actions have been taken and what industry impact has been there. In 2024, as you mentioned, achieved an adjusted EBITDA of $1.52 billion, making an improvement from $1.39 million in 2023.
This growth was driven by a $122 million increase in volumes across all segments, as you saw presentation by other segments, supported by recovery in demand following the ease of destocking situation and commercial excellence. So not only value pricing and the volumes what we got back into the system. As I mentioned, industry benchmark spreads had a negative impact of $131 million, largely due to weaker spreads in integrated PET and MTBE, which has normalized from record high in 2023. So you can see an impact of an MTBE of $144 million and integrated PET in $99 million, and a positive and integrated MEG by $86 million and $19 million in the fiber. So basically, if you summarize, the MTBE loss was offset by the integrated MEG spread. So the industry impact was $131 million.
The contribution margins improved our EBITDA by $60 million, mainly driven by lower energy prices as the energy prices were lower. On the last bucket, our asset rationalization efforts have started to yield benefits, contributing $48 million in fixed cost reductions, which is from the shutdown sites, and as I mentioned, another $100 million will roll in 2025. Management actions and inflation control measure further supported a $35 million reduction in fixed costs, so total was nearly $83 million. Our broader transformation journey enabled us to offset cost inflation when the depreciation of emerging markets currency further contributed to the cost reduction. These combined efforts reflect our strategic focus on driving operational efficiency and enhancing earning resilience amid market volatility. Now, let's look at how our debt profile has evolved.
In 2024, IVL generated $1.335 million as a cash flow from operation, of which $110 million was used for one-time severances and related expenses on shutdown sites, and $229 million was spent on higher short-term working capital due to higher year-end inventory costs by supply chain disruption due to Red Sea crisis, particularly, as I mentioned, in CPET segment. These extra working capital outflows are expected to reverse in 2025 as the supply chain stabilizes. And as I mentioned, CPET has nearly $300 million impact, which we expect to recover soon. As a result, the reported operating cash flow was $996 million, of which $730 million was allocated to maintenance CapEx and financing costs, including perpetual interest. The remaining $257 million free cash flow for IVL shareholders helped reduce net debt from $6.84 billion to $6.58 billion.
After dividends and growth CapEx, net debt stood at $6.89 million, similar to the start of the year, and a one-time deferred payment of $150 million for the 2022 Oxiteno acquisition increased the net debt to $7 billion. In 2024, we were affected by volatility of exchange rate movements on Thai Baht denominated debt. To provide a clear understanding, we have shown net debt after removing such exchange impact. Management actions remain focused on generating free cash flow and anticipate growth in 2025 and 2026, driven by management actions, volume improvements, proceeds from the sale of land of rationalized assets, planned IPOs, as we mentioned, and divestiture, leading to net debt reduction in line with the strategic goals. So if you see nearly $500 million of debt got increased due to three factors.
One is the net working capital outflow of $229 million, $110 million of severances, and $150 million of one-time acquisition payment. These are one-time effects, and the working capital we hope to release very soon in 2025. Now, at the end of 2024, our net debt equity stood at 1.3 times, 3 times, with a DSCR of 1.32 times. Our adjusted net debt equity calculation excludes non-operating debt on the assets with the work in progress and the impact of lease liabilities and non-cash exchange rate movements in debt and equity to ensure a more accurate reflection of our financial position by removing non-cash accounting adjustments. We maintain, as you can see, a balanced debt structure with 47% fixed and 53% floating, providing flexibility to optimize financing costs as interest rates stabilize at peak levels across major markets.
With benchmark rates expected to decline globally, we saw a recent reduction in Thailand by 25 basis points yesterday. We are well positioned to benefit from lower interest costs in the years ahead. We have successfully completed during 2024 refinancing of $1.8 billion through bank loans and issuance of Thai Baht denominated, achieved increases of debt maturity profile, and saved interest costs by $10-$11 million per annum. This has also allowed us to extend our repayment profile, which is now spreading over 10 years with longer average maturity of four and a half years. We already have a 2025 refinancing plan, which is progressing very well, with a focus on further extending debt maturity while securing lower spreads. We have further planned $1.9 billion of refinancing in 2025, mainly for recapitalization of Indovinya prior to IPO and listing. The term sheets have been already negotiated with the bankers.
The funds will be utilized to repay outstanding long-term loans and extend repayment profile. So right-hand side, what you see, the long-term debt repayment schedule is after that refinancing. So what is important that we maintain in this difficult time is a strong liquidity of $2.1 billion at the end of 2024, providing financial flexibility to navigate the market conditions and support our strategic priorities. It's important to understand a little bit of impact on our equity, particularly at the end of the year, as the Brazilian real was very weak. Our equity was impacted by non-cash exchange rate movement as we have investments in dollar and Brazilian real. Thai Baht strengthened against Brazilian real by 7% in fourth quarter 2024 and 22% over the year, contributing a total negative equity impact of $409 million in 2024.
This impact, as you know, is a non-cash translation loss, is temporary and has started to reverse in first quarter 2025 following the current weakening of Thai Baht against USD and Brazilian Real. We are reviewing our financial policies to minimize the impact of FX rate movement, such as in Brazil, where the currency weakened substantially, affecting our closing net debt and other comprehensive income. Our ESG-linked financing accounts for 30% of the total debt, reinforcing our strong alignment with sustainability-focused financial strategy. This reflects our commitment to integrate the ESG principles into both our operations and capital structure as a part of our long-term financial roadmap. We didn't do great in working capital, so that's the area where we need to address.
Our working capital days increased from 82 to 88 days by year-end, as I mentioned, due to higher year-end inventories caused by supply chain disruption due to Red Sea crisis, particularly in CPET segment. This resulted in a working capital outflow of $229 million, which we expect to normalize in 2025 and further improve by leveraging on digital tools like IBP. As you can see, CapEx is another key focus area to improve the free cash flow, where we'll invest only in sustainability and high-return projects. Most of our further spending will go towards essential maintenance to ensure operational reliability. In 2024, total CapEx was $190 million lower than the levels announced in CMD in March last year. As you can see, it is $470 million versus 2023 date. Looking ahead, we remain committed to optimize working capital, strengthening cash flow, deleveraging the balance sheet, and maintaining disciplined capital allocation.
Now, let's summarize. Sorry, there's another slide here. As you might have heard, Indorama Ventures is pleased to announce a 24.9% minority investment in EPL Ltd, a listed company in India, who is a leading global packaging company. Through our subsidiary, IVL, we will acquire this stake from Blackstone for approximately $220 million, which is THB 7.44 billion, and INR 250 per share. EPL, as you can see on the slide, is a global leader in innovative packaging, producing over eight billion tubes annually, with $498 million revenue as reported last time and $97 million EBITDA for 2023-2024. The company operates 21 manufacturing facilities across 11 countries, serving blue-chip customers across three key product segments. EPL's strong market position, innovation-driven approach, and sustainability focus complement IVL's global strategy. This transaction is expected to complete in the next few months after the statutory approvals.
IVL remains focused on enhancing shareholders' value through disciplined capital allocation. So let's summarize an introspection of 2024 performance. As you know, we'll be soon meeting for CMD. The chemical industry remains very challenging due to overcapacity and benchmark margins remaining below cash costs, as you've seen across all the chemical industries, olefins, aromatics, refineries. We are happy that timely management actions in rationalizing high-cost assets help in mitigating industry headwinds. We are proactively navigating these complexities through IVL 2.0 with a strong focus on organic growth, operational efficiency, and financial discipline. Cost efficiency and operational optimization, supported by asset rationalization and Olympus 2.0, will help maintain our first quartile cost production, and we will continue to look at it and mitigate the impact from industry headwinds. So we are not dependent on revival of the margins.
Digital transformation initiatives, including SAP S/4HANA, AI-driven optimization, will further enhance operational efficiency, streamline supply chain, and improve decision-making. Improvement in destocking, as you saw, situation in all the business segments, along with the commercial excellence, led to volume recovery across all businesses. Our working capital days increased from 82 to 88 days by year-end, as I mentioned, due to higher year-end inventories, particularly in CPET segment. This resulted in working capital outflow of $229 million, and we expect this to normalize in 2025 and further improve by leveraging on digital tools. As I mentioned, we remain committed to financial discipline, ensuring cash conservation and strategic capital allocation across all businesses. Overall, as a summary, I would say management is pleased with the company's performance in 2024, notwithstanding the challenging industry environment.
The past year marked a historical milestone in Indorama Ventures' journey as it leaned into the fundamental industry shifts and sought boldly to take advantage of the changes. The company has transitioned from its legacy asset acquisition model, and management is now focused on directing the pace of transformation in a more mature phase marked by organic growth, cash flow generation, and a new era of partnership towards long-term sustainable growth. Lastly, I'm pleased to invite you all to our Capital Market Day on March 5th, where we'll provide deeper insight into our strategic roadmap and long-term growth trajectory. We look forward to seeing you in CMD, and thank you for your patience. Now, we can take your questions, please. Thank you.
Thank you. Audience, you can raise your hand, and then I'll invite you to ask your questions in the meantime. So Alastair is joining us for the Q&A.
While we wait, I got one question online. It says that if the Russian war ends, what kind of impact do we estimate for IVL?
Yeah. If the Russian war ends, naturally, as you know, the Russian crude has been flowing into China, India. There has been an impact in the refinery operations in the diesel because the diesel crack margins went up. Naturally, we see the refinery still remains under pressure. But from IVL perspective, we don't see exact movement in the oil price because, as you know, Russia, we have a hygiene business, which is quite profitable, and we continue to run those operations. So I don't see any major negative impact. Rather, it will help in the recovery in the European demand. Yeah, we want to add something.
No, as you said, we have a nonwoven operation in Russia. I think if the wars end, I think it would be positive for us. We'll be able to get some of the demand that this plant used to supply, and we will also have less difficulty to find workers, which is one of the biggest issues today, and some stabilization in raw materials. So overall, for the hygiene business, that's $a few million positive. Maybe the energy.
Thank you. Khun Ning, I can see that you've raised your hand. Can you ask your question?
Yes. May I ask how much is the cost saving that reflects in the fourth quarter result and compared to the third quarter? And the second question says, what is the situation of the crop solution or the Indovinya segment surfactants? Because the EBITDA, we see quite a drop in the fourth quarter. Could you give the outlook for the first and the second quarter of the year? Thank you.
I think the first question, if I got correct, the fourth quarter fixed cost saving, right? Yeah. So
Yes.
So that is about how much it is? Because 20.
Yeah. So the total fixed cost saving for six months in third and fourth quarter is $48 million, and the third quarter was $19 million. And the rest has come in the fourth quarter.
And as I mentioned, next year, we'll have the full year fixed cost saving, which will be nearly incremental $100 million, as you know, Australia, Canada, Rotterdam, and Port Klang. I'll leave now to Alastair to address the crop solution question.
Alastair, please. Alastair, you're on mute if you're speaking. Sorry.
Thanks, DK, for the reminder. So the full question was the drop in EBITDA and then what do we see in quarter one? Is that correct? Yeah, the crop solutions drop in the fourth quarter EBITDA, right? Yeah. So normally, the crop solution business works on seasons. In Q4, it's the normal ramping down of the end of the crop season in South America. And Q1 and Q2 are normally the peak seasons for crop season in North America. So you see the north and south hemispheres changing. I think what we saw was, I mean, it wasn't a bad quarter at all based on 2023 versus 2024. So still a very, very good quarter, I think. But we did see that tail off as we were expecting. So it was nothing that we weren't surprised at. Q1, I think, is starting off reasonably strong.
We're only halfway through the quarter, so it's a little bit early to give any forecasts. But we're seeing some pretty good demand coming through. But obviously, that will be in North America. South America will kick in on quarter three, quarter four again next year. This year, sorry. Sorry, can I ask further? So we would see Indorama to report a better EBITDA in the first quarter compared to the fourth, right? And also the second, because you said the first and the second quarter could be the peak season for surfactant. Yeah. What we normally see is Q1 and Q4 being the weaker quarters and Q2, Q3 being the stronger quarters. So that's our normal profile. Q4, obviously, as people are destocking and getting their stock levels right for the year-end and then the end of the crop seasons.
And then Q1 is the normal ramp-up into the North American season. So what you see is Q1, Q4 being the weakest quarters, Q2, Q3 being the strongest quarters. That said, we're seeing Q1 starting off quite robustly. Given we've had a winter challenge in North America, as you will have read, that's had some impact, we're still expecting Q1 to be quite strong.
Thank you. I've got one question online. It says, can you explain more on the temporary CPET supply chain disruption that we have seen in the second half? Can we a little bit more expand on that?
Muthu, this is a question for you to recover $300 million. Go ahead and explain well. Yeah.
So when this Israel-Gaza war started, of course, a lot of shipments got diverted through the Cape of Good Hope instead of Red Sea, which resulted in a significant increase in the transit times from 30-40 days to almost 80 days plus. In some of the vessels, even took 100 days. So there was a significant impact to the transit time and thus the working capital. The other reason was also because of the uncertainty of volatility in the transit times also. So that resulted in an unexpected increase in working capital. Now, what we have done is we have streamlined those as much as possible through dedicated charter vessels so that we have better control on these transit times, even going through the Cape of Good Hope.
But for the past few weeks, there has already been a lot of shift from the Cape of Good Hope to Red Sea, and now, with a lot more improvement and progress on this settlement, then there are more and more vessels now going through the Red Sea. There are still some operators who still are avoiding risk and going through the Cape of Good Hope, but a major part is already shifting to Red Sea, which will then directly reduce the transit time for our imported material, and that is what Mr. DK was mentioning. That should help us to reduce the working capital and release it during the first quarter. I hope that I answered the question.
Yeah, and we're very hopeful to get it back.
As you know, we rationalized our assets, so we went into PTA buying more than the manufacturing in Rotterdam, which actually further aggravated the situation, and as Muthu explained, the transit time now and the entire planning is being very rigorously looked into it. So we hope to release this working capital, yeah.
A nd that is both for Europe because the make versus buy PTA, but also we have a large operation in Egypt, and that cargo is also going through the same dynamics, so it should help quite a bit both in Europe as well as for our Egypt raw material imports.
Thank you. Since we are on CPET, I'll take the question on CPET. So Khun Sornchai is asking, can we provide a breakdown of our EBITDA in region? So he's asking for PET, but I think we have overall IVL that we can show. And then what is the indicated break-even cost for MTBE? And the third question is that the Chinese petrochemical can operate because they're getting a cheaper petroleum from Russia. So can we further explain on the Chinese petrochemical situation?
Good. So I'll take one of the questions on China's petrochemical situation. I think China does have a very huge overhang of the entire petrochemical. When you talk of olefins, you talk of integrated PET aromatics, which the capacity has got built up. Today, as you know, olefins the world capacity utilization is 80%. So we do see these challenges of overcapacity in China continuing. But as you know, our business has been a geographically diversified model. We have been working on a lot of trade barriers, and naturally, America's business is highly protected, so Chinese products cannot go. But this challenge on Chinese will continue.
I don't think we have a breakdown from CPET EBITDA, but you can see from here that 70% of IVL EBITDA is predominantly made in Americas, which is U.S., Mexico, and Brazil, and maybe the third question was break-even cost of MTBE. Kumar, you want to take that? I think we'll revert on that point. I'll get back to you with the break-even on the cost of MTBE, but just if I can add, how do we make MTBE? MTBE is made from butane. It's a pure MTBE technology, so basically a byproduct of PO-TBA, and we make butane and methanol and then MTBE, so you see the MTBE margins seasonally in fourth quarter are weak because you blend basically butane in the gasoline pool, which gets corrected in first quarter, second quarter, and you see when the blending stops, the butane and the percentage of oil comes down significantly.
So you see, always quarter by quarter, second quarter, third quarter earning bigger. It is also because the refinery margins in second quarter, third quarter are high, and this octane is linked to the refining margins, and it has a premium over it. I think the break-even cost, we can provide you more specific data, but yes, the margins in fourth quarter remain under pressure. This is basically a pure MTBE combined, and it still contributes, as you saw, the quarterly EBITDA, even at the weak MTBE margin. Maybe just to add on this Chinese use of cheaper crude, one dynamic that we have seen is as compared to the peak refinery margins in 2024, towards later part of the year, they have been reducing. The refinery margins are not as robust as before.
And how that is relevant is because one-third of the Chinese capacity, PET, is fully integrated, then it should have less impact on the subsidization of downstream spreads on PET. So that is directly linked to that.
Yeah, I think good, Muthu. So Vikash, do you have that integrated slide? I think this is an important point, which is that today the entire polyester value chain margin has compressed. You see this is a refinery margin which has compressed. But you have another slide, Vikash, where they just compress the entire polyester value chain margins. Whether it is paraxylene, PTA, PET, or compressed, they are much below the cost. People are losing money. So the question is how they became sustainable. So these are the typical problems right now of the industry.
Thank you. I can see Naphat from CLSA. Can you ask your question for Naphat? Hi.
Thank you for the presentation. Since we were talking about the PET industry, I may have one more question on PET. So what is the industry situation of the PET in China? Because I remember that we were talking about the declining of the upstream PX spread will pressure the Chinese producers, and which they should see them cutting their run rate. And looking at the spread in January and February, I think it's down quarter on quarter quite a bit. So I wonder when should we see how is the industry situation in China? Yeah.
Yeah. Muthu, you can take that question, please.
Yeah. If you can go back to that slide, Vikash, the one that we were just showing. So here we have provided the quarter-wise margins and operating rate up to December of 2024 or fourth quarter. You are absolutely right that after peaking in November and early part of December, the integrated spreads have come down considerably in January and February. Now, that has been driven mainly because a lot of the new capacities came on stream that part of the year. And a large part of that capacity addition is also fully integrated by the Rongsheng Group. So that has resulted in this drop in margins. The other reason is also because the Chinese New Year was earlier than usual. So many of the manufacturing units, they took the shutdown earlier than planned, and they have not, I mean, there has been a deferral in their restarting.
So, combined these two, the margins have declined. Now, what we are seeing is that after the inventory levels increased because of these reasons, now with the unit starting back up and the downstream demand coming again, then the inventory levels should start reducing, and the operating rate should start improving. So now you see that the operating rate, which went highest in, I mean, high in Q4, that has come down below 70%. That is expected to now start going up again. And that should help March onwards with the seasonal demand coming, downstream units starting back up. Then we expect improvement in the margins from these lows. Overall, for the year, we expect similar margins, integrated margin as 2024.
We don't expect a large improvement on an annual basis. But from the current levels in January, February, certainly we should see an improvement. And the other reason is if you go to that capacity addition, Vikash.
So this will show you that the peak capacity addition already happened in 2024. But you can see here almost 5 million tons of capacity got added. And a lot of that came during the second half, the effective basis. And that is what resulted in this temporary. Now, 2025, if you see, that is dropping quite a bit. And in 2026, it's less than a million tons. So going forward, although the capacity overhang will be there, the sharp drop in addition of new capacities, that should also help on the spreads. But overall, as I said earlier, 2025 on an annual basis, we expect to be similar to 2024. Hope that answers.
Yes. Okay. One more question maybe Khun D K can address this issue. I think about the asset divestment that we, the asset that we divested last year, and then we are thinking of divesting those assets. I wonder, is there any update on this?
So I think that is, as you can see, our asset divestment. We are expecting $150-$200 million one-time cash flow. Rotterdam, we already agreed for a sale of our land and the jetty. The plant and machinery is still being discussed. So that will get, and that's where the $51 million was accounted in fourth quarter auditor's reversal, but no cash flow came in. Then another big piece is Australia land, which has a significant value in terms of $100-$110 million. Canada land. So all these $150-$200 million cash, we expect to realize in 2025 and latest in the first quarter of 2026. So it's going, divestment is going as planned of the shutdown assets. And in addition, as you know, we are looking at divesting certain core assets.
So that will keep you updated in the capital market.
Thank you, Khun Naphat. I can see some more questions which are related to more petrochemicals and CPET, so I'll take them first. So Khun Jakapong, you're asking that can we give a guideline related to the new pricing of contracts in 2025? There's another question that what is the change in U.S. policy on petrochemical imports to U.S., the tariff and restriction that's across IVL? And the third one from Jakapong is that what's the progress of listing the Packaging business?
So I'll take a couple of them, and then I'll ask Muthu to cover. So U.S. imports tariff was positive for IVL. As you know, let's understand that U.S. has trade deficit in terms of PET, nearly 1 million ton comes. Even from Mexico, there's a lot of PET and PET comes in.
We don't know yet whether the duties will be slapped on Mexico and Canada. So naturally, this will have a positive impact because U.S. operating rates will go up. Also, we see that de minimis imports, there are some duties like diapers and all that end products. We also see this will help in the fiber business. So overall, tariffs will certainly help in the entire IVL business portfolio. Listing of Packaging business is on track. We are working on it. As you know, the Packaging business has delivered consistent EBITDA. We have growth plans. We have a building plant in Tanzania. We are looking at other countries. So that is targeted in first quarter 2026, raising $250 million. The third, on the new contract pricing, I think U.S. is on the North America is on the positive side. But let Muthu answer that question in more detail.
Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, [audio distortion]. Yeah. On the contract rate, we have been able to lock in the contracts as we had planned in terms of volumes. And the projected growth in demand should support that. In terms of margins, America is certainly 2025 versus 2024, we see an improvement. In case of Europe, where there is also a large contract volume, also in the base spreads, we have been able to improve from 2024- 2025. However, as you know, that Europe also has a lot of influence from the Asian spreads, what happens on the Asian spread as well as on the freight rates. So that we will need to closely monitor. But overall, based on the dynamics, we've been able to improve the base spreads in Europe as well.
Just to add on what the Trump administration, the new regulations and the tariffs that are coming in, if you look at CPET, maybe I can break it into, let's say, three, four factors. One is on the material flow that is coming into U.S. on PET and PTA. IVL does not have direct exposure on that as compared to some of our peers. So any tariff or disruption to that should help us as a large domestic player. Now, if there are going to be any cost increases on feedstock further upstream, that we should be in a position to pass it through to the customers, either through change in the published indices or other pass-through mechanisms we have in place. So that should be overall positive for IVL in U.S.. Now, we are also carefully monitoring how the retaliatory measures would impact our business.
It is not only the tariffs that U.S. is putting in place, but also what happens if the trading partners add the retaliatory measures. We are already taking actions to first make sure that there is no disruption on our supplies to our customers, but then also how we mitigate any type of cost impact. The third factor is that because of the change in the approach of the U.S. administration, which basically is becoming more protectionist, we expect many of the other countries, and we do see that, taking similar approach, ensuring fair trade and that the domestic industry is protected. This should help IVL because of our presence, domestic presence, large domestic presence in key markets in terms of tariffs or trade measures in those markets. It should directly benefit us.
The last one I just wanted to highlight is also you almost have also seen the announcement of increased tariff, 25% on aluminum and steel imports. As compared to the last time, this time it is also including countries which have FTA, Free Trade Agreement with U.S. So we are monitoring that. We believe that based on some of the comments made by large brand owners, we expect some type of pivoting, shifting of demand if it continues to PET from aluminum. We will continue to monitor that and see what we need to do to take benefit from that. Those are some of the areas how we are managing the new approach.
Thank you, Muthu. I think the last one is quite important. As you know, the aluminum costs traditionally were 50% of the CSD sales in U.S., and you've seen the comment. Let's keep the fingers crossed. Thank you.
Thank you, Muthu, Mr. Agarwal. Kaushal, thanks for your patience. For Macquarie, asking question, giving focus on de-leveraging for IVL, what are the thought process on the EPL investment? What would be the guidance for further growth CapEx in 2025? And there's an accounting question. The cash conversion cost in fourth quarter 2024 dropped significantly. Can you please give some color on the cash conversion cost in the fourth quarter?
On de-leveraging, I think as you know, the IVL is committed on de-leveraging of debt over EBITDA of below three times. Our IPOs of Indovinya and Packaging and also the divestment, we are working on that. Naturally, this year, we could not de-leverage because of the working capital increase, as you saw, $229 million, severance one time of $100 million, and $150 million.
Otherwise, we would have been de-leveraged by $500. On EPL investment, it is a minority stake in a high-growth market. As you can see, it's a very strong business. We don't have any plans to further invest in this business and have this minority stake. As far as growth CapEx is concerned, you are seeing that we reduced as compared to 2024, $190 million. 2025 and 2026, we'll provide you update in CMD. 2025 is going to be higher because there are three turnarounds. One is for IVOG, which is the glycol plant, IVOL, which is a Clear Lake plant, and MTBE, which comes in once in five years, but we'll give you further update. I didn't understand the third cash conversion cost or cash conversion?
Yeah. So this is a clarification. This is cash conversion. So operating cash flow to EBITDA conversion in the fourth quarter. That's working capital.
Yeah. So OCF conversion has been poor. As you know, that our working capital deployment of $229 million has been a big hit for us. And although if you take below, before that is $1.3 billion. And I think this will improve as we release more working capital in the coming years. So you can see 1.335 for 1.4, but major hit has been these two factors, working capital flow and the severance payment. So this cash conversion ratio will certainly improve in coming years, 2025, 2026.
Thank you. Audience, I don't see any other questions left, but if you have any questions, you can ask them now. There's no more questions online as well. So I think we can close the meeting today. And thank you very much for joining us. And we look forward to see you on 5th of March for our annual Capital Market Day event. It's being held at Sofitel in Bangkok. For the overseas participants, you get the online link to join in. Please do join. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you all so much. Bye. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.