Good morning. This is the conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Arkema first quarter 2026 results and outlook conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode, and after the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions by pressing star and one at any time. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may signal an operator by pressing star and zero on their telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Thierry Le Hénaff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you very much. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Arkema's Q1 2026 results conference call. Joining me today are Marie-José Donsion, our CFO, and the investor relations team. As always, to support this conference call, we have posted a set of slides which are available on our website. I will comment the highlight of the quarter before letting Marie-José go through the financials. At the end of the presentation, we'll be available as usual to answer your questions. In the continuity of 2025, market conditions remained soft into January and February 2026 before improving in March. Regional trends were contrasted with demand continuing to be subdued in Europe and in the U.S., while Asia showed again solid momentum across several of our end market.
In addition, the quarter was once more affected by the depreciation of the US dollar compared to last year, while this impact is expected to be more limited from the second quarter onwards. End of February saw the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East, which started to impact global supply chains and quickly led to a sharp rise in certain raw materials as well as in energy and logistic costs beginning in Asia. In this complex environment, Arkema delivered stable volumes year-on-year, a solid performance in the context. This was particularly driven by Specialty Materials whose volume increased by 1.5%, supported by a strong pickup in March. All Specialty Materials segments were up. Coating Solutions benefited notably from better dynamics in UV curing resins. Advanced Materials posted solid growth in key attractive markets for high-performance polymers.
Adhesives were supported by durable goods and some limited improvement in construction. This volume performance also reflects Arkema's continued momentum in high-growth pockets, with volumes up 15% in attractive end markets such as batteries, sport, 3D printing, and healthcare. Batteries once again deliver strong growth supported by the rapid expansion of energy storage systems, a key additional driver for the group, particularly within high-performance polymers. As a result, Q1 EBITDA came in slightly above expectation, reaching EUR 283 million, up 14% versus the fourth quarter of 2025, supported by an improvement in March. EBITDA was nevertheless down year-on-year, primarily impacted by a significant negative currency effect of around EUR 20 million and the absence of rebound in the U.S. and Europe so far. Besides, Advanced Materials experienced a slow start to the year, in line with the trend observed in Q4.
However, momentum improved in March, and Q2 should be up sequentially supported by HPP. I would also like to underline the good performance of Coating Solutions, which improved its EBITDA margin by 100 basis points, supported by a more favorable product mix. Adhesive Solutions delivered a significant sequential improvement despite being down year-on-year. On the other hand, Primary Materials increased earnings slightly year-on-year, mainly driven by legacy refrigerant in the U.S. In ethylene, the improving spread in Asia came late in the quarter and so had only a limited impact while the business in Europe and the U.S. continued to be challenging, particularly in January and February. However, from today's perspective, it is fair to assume that the ethylene spread should improve in Q2 with the magnitude still to be confirmed.
As you can expect, all teams are fully mobilized to effectively and swiftly manage the current economic and geopolitical challenges. In the first quarter, we have set fixed cost inflation of at constant currencies, and we are well on track to achieve this objective for the full year, supported by a number of cost-cutting initiatives. Turning to the Middle East crisis, the group is reacting swiftly to mitigate supply chain disruption, both in terms of raw material availability and, more important, input cost inflation. Pricing adjustment have been initiated to offset the increase in raw materials, energy, and logistic cost, while action deployed selectively by product, market, and geography. This has required close and continuous coordination with both supplier and customers. Price increases will become visible in Q2. Arkema's well-balanced geographical footprint to serve customers predominantly from their region is worth mentioning as a good advantage in the current environment.
So far, we have been able to navigate this crisis without any supply disruption. Moreover, Arkema remains focused on executing its major growth project. The group is currently finalizing the completion of its new PVDF capacity in the U.S., scheduled to start mid-year. This will add 15% additional capacity in the region to meet growing demand for locally manufactured PVDF, particularly for energy storage systems, semiconductors or cable applications. In parallel, the group also announced a further 20% capacity expansion at its PVDF plant in China, set up to start in 2028. The new unit of Rilsan Clear downstream of our PA 11 in Singapore started up successfully at the beginning of the year and is expected to support HPP earnings momentum from Q2 onwards, driven by capacity ramp up. I would also like to underline the strong first quarter performance of PIAM.
EBITDA was up more than 30% year-on-year in local currency with a 35% EBITDA margin. As highlighted during our last call, PIAM continues to benefit from good momentum, driven in particular by solutions for foldable and ultra thin smartphones, as well as its expansion into higher-end application. We expect this positive trend to continue into the second quarter with robust year-on-year sales growth. In addition, Arkema stays disciplined in its capital allocation. We deliver the solid performance with regard to working capital management. This contributed to recurring cash flow coming in better than last year. This performance also reflects lower CapEx, fully in line with our EUR 600 million full-year CapEx target. I will now hand it over to Marie-José for a more in-depth look at the financial by segment before we discuss the outlook at the end of the presentation.
Thank you, Thierry, and good morning, everyone. Arkema's Q1 revenues at EUR 2.2 billion were down 8.4% year-on-year. They were impacted by a negative 5.1% currency effect, reflecting mainly the weakening of the U.S. dollar against the euro compared to Q1 last year. Volumes came out broadly stable year-on-year, supported by a strong month of March after a relatively soft start of the year. The price effect was a negative 3%, reflecting essentially the lower selling price environment compared to Q1 2025, in line with the progressive decrease in raw material costs observed in 2025. Q1 EBITDA came in at EUR 283 million. The currency effect represented a negative of around EUR 20 million.
Looking at the performance by segment, Adhesive Solutions achieved an EBITDA of EUR 89 million. It reflected on top of the currency impact, the still weak demand in North America and Europe. Volumes grew significantly overall or slightly less overall, supported mainly by Asia. This performance was driven mainly by adhesives for durable goods, with an improvement in aerospace and heavy truck markets in North America. On the other hand, packaging remained soft and construction was better oriented, especially in Europe. In Advanced Materials, the EBITDA stood at EUR 139 million. Apart from the currency effect, the EBITDA was essentially affected by the unfavorable product and geographical mix.
Market conditions in much of the quarter were similar to what we observed in Q4 last year, which means a continuing weak demand in the U.S. and in Europe, while Asia continued to show a positive dynamic. Coating Solutions delivered a good performance in the context with an EBITDA stable compared to last year at EUR 51 million. Volumes were up 3%, driven mainly by strong growth in Asia, in particular in UV curing resins. The EBITDA margin improved by 100 basis points at 13%, benefiting from our development in higher value-added applications. Lastly, Primary Materials, EBITDA was slightly up at EUR 33 million, especially supported by a good performance in legacy refrigerants in the U.S., while acrylic monomers stayed in a low cycle conditions in most of the quarter.
Depreciation and amortization stood at EUR 165 million, leading to a recurring EBIT of EUR 118 million and a EBIT margin of 5.4%. Non-recurring items amounted to EUR 45 million. They include EUR 34 million of PPA depreciation and EUR 11 million of one-off charges, notably some restructuring and reorganization costs. Financial expenses stood at minus EUR 29 million. The increase versus last year reflecting mainly the cost of carry of a pre-financed green bond issued end of 2025. Consequently, the Q1 adjusted net income amounted to EUR 65 million, which corresponds to EUR 0.86 per share. Moving on to cash flow and net debt, Q1 recurring cash flow amounted to minus EUR 95 million, which included the first quarter classical working capital seasonality.
The working capital ratio on annualized sales stands at 16.3%, which is better than a year ago. Total capital expenditure amounted to EUR 75 million in the quarter, which is in line again with our guidance of annual CapEx spend of EUR 600 million for the full year 2026. Net debt and hybrid bonds at the end of March 2026 amounted to EUR 3.3 billion. The net debt to last 12 months EBITDA ratio stands at 2.8 x. Thank you for your attention. I'll hand it over to Thierry for the outlook.
Thank you, Marie-José. As you could see, despite the geopolitical headwinds, we could deliver positive volume growth across our Specialty Materials segment in the firs t quarter, with a double-digit increase in our key attractive markets. As we move into the second quarter, the conflict in Middle East, which began two months ago, remains ongoing, as you know, with continued uncertainty regarding its direction and its duration, sorry, and the magnitude of its consequences on the global economy. At this stage, obviously, the key priority of the group is to remain agile in navigating this volatile environment and to adapt its pricing policy swiftly to offset input cost inflation. This is what we are clearly doing. We remain attentive to other potential impact of this context, notably on global demand as everyone.
At the same time, this crisis could also create some upside, as it could also lead temporarily to tighter supply-demand balance in certain value chain. In parallel, the group continued to focus on self-help measures, maintaining tight cost and operational controls, as you could see in the first quarter, alongside the discipline execution and the ramp-up of its growth projects. In this context, the group confirm its target of a slight EBITDA growth at constant exchange rate for 2026. Before opening the Q&A session, maybe a quick word on Arkema's journey during the past 20 years, we add a few slide in the deck on this anniversary. As you know, we became listed on May 18th, 2006, and we'll be celebrating the group's 20th anniversary in a few days.
Over this period, the company has undergone an in-depth and unique transformation from a big bag of commodity businesses. Most of them were unprofitable at that time. They were European-centric for most of them. We transform the company into a global and profitable leader in Specialty Materials. Today, Arkema benefit also from a strong financial structure, solid performance, meet also high non-financial standard and offer its customer superior set of cutting-edge technology. While the chemical industry is currently in low cycle, which is reflected in the share price, leaving space for significant upside. Going forward, Arkema has delivered strong long-term value creation over 20 years. EUR 1 Invested in Arkema in May 2006 has become EUR 3.6 today, including dividends.
Beside Arkema share price increase over this, 20 years is well above the evolution of the CAC and its chemical peers, particularly in Europe. Thank you very much for your attention, and, together with Marie-José, we are now ready to answer the question you may have.
Thank you. This is the conference operator. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. Please pick up the receiver when asking questions. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. First question is from Tom Wrigglesworth, Morgan Stanley.
Hi, Thierry, Marie-José. Thank you very much for the presentation. Two questions, if I may. The first quarter has been characterized by better volumes in the more specialty business and not in the, and less so, in the more upstream business. Yet your comment around tightening supply and demand chains would suggest that the reverse will now happen. Is that what we should expect, that now the upstream businesses and could you comment to how you see that playing out both for Q2 and the rest of the year, maybe regionally as well, given we're expecting quite diverse performances between, say, Asia and the U.S.? Be very keen to hear your views on that.
A second question, related but a follow-up is, you know, what do you think the medium-term kind of structural or kind of more sustainable impacts will be, or that you're seeing in customer behaviors from the conflict that's arisen in the Middle East? Thank you.
Thank you, Tom, for your question. Obviously, we are in a interesting world where none of us know exactly what is going to happen. Visibility remain limited. The good things, and this is certainly what you could read from the Q1 performance and from our comments on full year, is that we remain solid, and we have because we have both balanced portfolio from a geographical standpoint and also from a product line standpoint. Sometimes diversity bring stability, and this is the case for Arkema. Back to your question.
I think that the dynamics, I would say from a geographical standpoint, I mean, we say with the same contrast over the Q2 and maybe the remaining part of the world where the engine would be clearly more Asia than Europe and U.S. We'll see. From a product line standpoint, it can depend from month to month, you know. What is clear is that, as we mentioned, acrylics, which is what we mentioned by upstream, acrylics will benefit in the Q2, at least from a better supply-demand balance.
Last year we suffered clearly in acrylics. Q2, we will see light in the tunnel, which is good, which shows that our strategy is producing benefit and that the diversity of the portfolio is playing its part. As I mentioned a couple of months ago, I said this, and it was at the early stage of the Middle East crisis. I said that I believe that this crisis will have a positive and negative impact, but all in all for Arkema, it should be around the turn. We are still in this kind of philosophy, and this is why we confirmed the guidance for the full year.
We mentioned Geostream, but in Coatings, for example, we see some good momentum and so reverse of last year in the Q1, and we should be confirming Q2. With regard to Adhesive, a sort of overall resilience, solidity are not wonderful, but overall resilience. In Advanced Materials, more contrast I would say because, we believe that in HPP after a soft start, as I mentioned, we should start to see a sort of sequential momentum benefiting from all these key projects that we have mentioned and the investments.
While on the opposite, performance adhesive should be maybe the loser of the Middle East crisis because this is a business, the product line, which is, which has the most customers in Middle East and is certainly more impacted by some raw material increase like sulfur, where you have some lag to pass it to customers. I would say so. I would say the portfolio will play its part everywhere and, but at the end, the good thing with what we deliver is that there is no surprise in a world of plenty of unknowns with some positive and negatives, but overall we sort of neutral stability, but plenty of work for the team clearly.
The impact of the medium term on from Middle East crisis, which is I imagine your question is on the global demand. I would say nobody knows exactly. If it lasts a long time, certainly there should be impact because of the inflation and the disruptions. So far, we don't see too much. The volume are correct. I would say not worse than they were last year, so not extraordinary level. I would say not too much impact so far. Wait and see. We confirm, I think taking everything into account, we believe that for Arkema, we this event in Middle East should be neutral with some positive element and some downside.
Just to follow up on that, do you think we can expect Q2 2026 EBITDA to be above that of Q2 2025? I'm just trying to get some kind of reference point to understand the kind of, you know, how things might progress.
My feeling, and it's factored in the full year guidance, last year we were more, if you remember, H2, Q4, we were more around minus 25% compared to last year. We are minus 14% in Q1. You see that step by step we catch up with last year- on- year. I would say we ought to be comparable, I would say Q2 2026 compared to last year, which would be a significant step up, and which is really our roadmap to deliver the full year guidance. We would be really aligned with the full year guidance by achieving that.
Okay. Very clear. Thank you, Thierry. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Next question is from Matthew Yates, Bank of America.
Hey, good morning, everyone. I wanted to ask about the Advanced Materials division and from the starting point of the margin you currently have and the trajectory to get towards the midterm guide and in particular, the point on mix. I'm not sure I fully understand why mix is a headwind at the moment. Maybe there's some specific products. You alluded to geographic mix, and I'm struggling to reconcile that with the idea that your CapEx has been disproportionately in Asia to satisfy where the demand is coming from, yet somehow mix is negative. I wouldn't have intuitively assumed that the Asian demand was gonna be margin dilutive or else that wouldn't be consistent with the midterm target. Can you just explain to me what's been going on with mix and how you see that evolving?
Then, somewhat related, you've announced an incremental investment in PVDF in China. You know, there's been a lot of debate in recent years about the degree of competition and commoditization. I see one of your peers in Japan recently took a large write-down on some investments they're making. Why do you still believe that you can make a reasonably attractive return in that PVDF segment and it warrants putting more capital into it? Thank you.
Thank you, Matthew. Very interesting question. I think complexity of different nature. In fact, on the overall, on the midterm, we are comfortable on the fact that the mix, both geographical and product will improve. This is not the topic of the short term. The topic of the short term is nearly mechanical, I would say. As you know, the unit margin in Europe and the U.S. are by nature on many of our businesses higher in Europe and the U.S. than they are in Asia. It is true for many companies. The reason being that the cost structure itself is heavier in Europe and the U.S. than it is in Asia.
At the end, in terms of profitability, okay, we have quite good profitability in Asia as we have in the U.S. We are lower in Europe. Which means that for the same volume, when these volume are more weighted, which is the case, since two years in Asia, because this is where we have the growth, in fact, for the same fixed cost, okay, in each of the region, you have less margin for a given volume in Asia than you have in Europe and U.S. Okay. This means that in terms of EBITDA, the EBITDA is, let's say is comparable everywhere, but the unit margin is lower in Asia than they are, and the EBITDA margin is comparable.
Which means that when you have more volume and more development in Asia, it weighs on the average mix in, for the same fixed cost, it weighs on the EBITDA margin. This is nearly mechanical, in fact. Okay? Now, if you think longer term, Europe and U.S., we are confident on that. We recoup volumes, okay? Step by step it will come back, and we confirm, in fact, we are very happy to confirm the midterm target for Advanced Materials, which will be well above the 20%. It's purely this is what we explain with the mix.
With regard to the product mix, I would say no, because, beyond if I put aside this geographical discrepancy in terms of products, we developed the product with the highest margin. Again, even with themselves, they make more, more margin, unit margin in Europe and U.S. than they are doing in Asia. Now on the PVDF investment in China, which is for Asia, it's not just for China, it's for Asia. As it's really very consistent with our strategy since several years. We have had many question on this PVDF. We must say that PVDF since many years and still today is an engine of growth and profitability for the company, and we want to develop it globally.
We have this investment in the U.S., we have this investment in China, and we are quite comfortable that this investment will have quite a good payback. Now, Korea, it's I don't know. This is, I would say, their topic, their profile. With regard to us, we are very comfortable on what we are doing, which shows that the quality of our innovation in PVDF, the positioning, the fact that we really focus on the high end of the range is bearing fruit. It can be in semiconductors, it could be in batteries, it can be in cables. I think we have a good and differentiated strategy in PVDF.
Thierry, if you allow me just to follow up. In terms of the Q2 commentary around this business, is it that there are some specific projects ramping, I think you mentioned foldable phones in the intro, for example, that are very high margin, or is it just simply an overall improvement in volumes helps to have better fixed cost absorption?
Yeah. We got a few messages because we made the comments, I agree on the HPP and it doesn't matter. In fact, our message was Q1 was, we join to a certain extent, is linked to your first comment, your first question. I would say in the mix of Arkema, Advanced Materials in the Q1 from our standpoint was maybe the disappointing part. The message was to say, "Okay, it's a soft start, but it will ramp up in the second quarter, at least sequentially." We have a good business prospect from the major project, and this major project are for HPP. Also it was to spot the mix in HPP between the mix in Advanced Materials in the Q2 between HPP and Performance Additives.
With HPP, with, let's say a positive growth momentum, including PIAM, which is doing pretty well as you mentioned. Beyond PIAM, with PVDF, et cetera, and polyimide and specialty fluorogases. On the other side, performance additives being impacted by the Middle East because they sell, this is our business line which is selling the most to Middle East, and they have this sulfur topic. This is more to give you some granularity inside Advanced Materials, which will be with, let's say two contrasted business line for the quarter. After that it can change, okay?
Thank you, Thierry.
The good thing is that maybe to complete on that, our major projects step by step are ramping up, and this will impact in the short and the long term HPP as you know and as we often mentioned.
Next question is from James Hooper, Bernstein.
Good morning, everyone. First question, obviously, you've referenced Thierry in your answers to geographic mix, where it's more Asian-led, you know, less strong in Europe and North America. Do you expect that to change, given the kind of U.S. PMI trajectory or what we're seeing since the conflict started on the Gulf Coast and other places? Secondly, can I also ask about March? Obviously stronger than expected. Do you think any of this was customer pre-buying? You know, perhaps obviously Asia was very strong, that tends to be the spot market and where you know, you see perhaps the most current capacity outages. Sorry. Thank you.
Thank you for the question. I would say with regard to geographic mix, yes, as you know, we believe in U.S. because we invested a lot there. It's 35% of our sales, and we believe that from a competitive standpoint, even reinforced by what is happening in Middle East, their competitiveness, especially in terms of energy, is superior. We believe that there are, in the U.S., many ingredients for this economy to rebound at some certain point. This is not what we see today. It depends if your question is short term or long term. If it is short term, we have to be cautious, and we still see these dynamics coming from Asia.
It will, I don't know, reverse is not really the right point because it would mean that Asia would get down, which would not be the case. Would rebalance with U.S. getting stronger. We are at a low point in many of our businesses in the U.S.. We start to see a little bit of green shoots. They are minimal here and there, which maybe could get us feel that in the course of the year, we should see some improvement. There are so many elements in the geopolitics that we have to be careful. With regard to March, maybe there is a little bit of pre-buying, maybe not in the more stream of our businesses. Maybe.
Now when you look at the volume in March, we are just for the company at par compared to, compared not for March, but for the quarter compared to last year. If you take January plus February plus March, and we have a tendency to look at the whole quarter with different dynamics. Slow start and some of offset or catch up in March. Certainly a little bit of pre-buying. For example, if we look at April, I think we mentioned it in the press release or, I think the April is starting, is in the continuity of March, which is an element of answer also. This means that we see the good solid March is continuing in April.
Thank you very much.
You know, we need that to have a Q2 in EBITDA comparable to last year.
Thank you, Thierry.
Next question is from Laurent Favre, BNP Paribas Exane.
Yes, good morning. My question's on the downstream businesses, and I'm, I guess, focused on net pricing. I was wondering if you could talk about sort of big buckets of adhesives, coatings and the rest. What are you seeing in terms of raw material inflation right now? Are we talking mid-single digits, low double digits, maybe high teens inflation? Are you using surcharges or are you expecting to see, I guess, pricing commensurate with this type of inflation? When you talk about short-term squeezes on downstream, is it, you know, a few quarters or just a few weeks and months?
Okay. With regard to the raw material, all along the place, I would say that is not only just for our downstream businesses, it's for the whole company. You have increase of raw material, which can rank from a few percent to 100%. It's really quite quick and quite steep. This is why our teams, unfortunately, they were already trained with what has happened during COVID, are really moving very fast to pass price increase. Now it's clear, and you know that very well because your experience, is quicker in upstream than it is in downstream, to pass to the customers. Our feeling is that the more downstream we go, the more we will have to use the full quarter to pass everything.
Our idea is to fully offset, instantly, I would say, for the end of the quarter. Since we have some businesses, as you know, more upstream, that will have some upside effect. It's the case of acrylics. In the quarter, it will fully offset the time lag we can have on more downstream businesses. This is where the strength of the portfolio is diversity is playing. Overall, we should be good. Now it's clear that you have some different color starting from upstream to downstream in the quarter. The idea is to have done the job, full job for the end of the quarter.
The reason why it takes you have some time lag, I would say the profile of the customer can be very, very, very different, even their own constraint. This is why, as you know, in the real life, it takes a raise a little bit of time. Also the raw material, the wave of the raw material increase are coming one by one. This means that you need to come back and to say, "Okay, it's more, so we have to pass more," et cetera. Real life.
Overall, this is why we sort of comment on this comparable to EBITDA comparable to last year in Q2, because we believe that with our portfolio, there will be some plus, some minuses, but all in all, we can manage. It's a job which take a lot of energy for from our teams, like I imagine for everybody.
Thank you. Back in 2022, I mean, you had very, very strong pricing, even in downstream areas, at the expense of volumes. I think at the time you mentioned that there were certain volumes that you were happy to lose because they were lower quality, lower margins. Is there any of this right now, or are you know, literally now fighting for every molecule, as you see them as high quality and you want to retain those volumes?
I would say our, It's clear that when you put a lot of emphasis on price increase, especially in a world where you have a war, we should not forget in Middle East, is not what is going to push volume up very strongly. Let's say that we target more or less flattish volume, okay? In this flattish volume guideline or context, we push the price. Okay? It's not exactly, like in after COVID, where we have still to rationalize our portfolio, especially in the adhesive. This job has been done. Okay? It's more stable. Let's say flattish volume, and then, we work on pricing.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Next question is from Jaideep Pandya On Field Research.
Thank you. Three questions. Firstly is on acrylic acid. Very, you know, when you look at this product in Europe and the U.S., for a long time, there hasn't been any capacity added, but margins have continuously sort of, you know, drifted downwards. You know, now in the backdrop of the war and the tightness in NAFTA and probably in Asia, how do you see the sort of midterm outlook for acrylic acid? Do you think there is a need for capacity rationalization in either Europe or the U.S., given some of the markets, like India, for instance, have, you know, become more and more self-sufficient? That's my first question. The second is around the sulfur topic.
How do you see the upstream, you know, methionine market, from your point of view, the mercaptans, you know, value chain, given the shortage of sulfur? Have you been able to grab market share, or is this an issue right now from your point of view? The last question is around PA 11. Obviously, you made a very big investment in Singapore. I mean, when you look at the plant in Singapore today versus your French plant, in terms of operational performance, as well as profitability, where do we stand today? You know, is this now more or less at par, in terms of product output, but profitability is yet to, you know, join? How do we stand there today? Thanks a lot.
With regard to acrylic acid, first of all, we're happy to see, after, as you mentioned, a couple of years of challenges, to see some improvement, and we appreciate that. For the team, it's very important. And it's not in detriment of the downstream, which is good. Because you saw the Coating Solutions performance in Q1, which is at par with the previous year. Even if the previous year were not great, I think this is a chain which is solid right now. Now, as we mentioned, the tightness, we have no crystal ball. I think we are cautious because we are just out of two years where acrylics were really under pressure.
We think that clearly, with the conflicts and maybe hopefully beyond the conflict, I think we'll stabilize around more normalized spread. Let's do it step by step. The first step is to do our job in a market which has changed notably with Middle East crisis. We'll see how long will this crisis last. It's a big parameter, and nobody knows about it. After that, we'll see where we stand, and we'll certainly update you.
I think the good news is that we benefit from this diversity of the portfolio with some more upstream business and some re-downstream businesses. On the sulfur, I think we on the methionine, we are not in the methionine. We, I would say, supplied our customers. This market share is more their topic than our topic. What we do ourselves is to serve them the best way possible. On the availability of the sulfur, we manage. This is a good news. Now the sulfur has increased very much. Our topic is to increase, and this is where we have some time lag, and by contract, not every market is the same. I would say we find the sulfur.
On Singapore, I would say, first of all, the good news is that the Singapore plant is running very well. It took years, as you know. We started at low point and we learned a lot and now it's really a very, very nice plant, very optimized. Compared to Marseille, it's more modern, so it should be more profitable. On the other side, the capacity is smaller than Marseille. I would say all we know, they are comparable, to answer your question.
Okay. Thank you.
There are no more questions registered at this time. The floor is back to the management for any closing remarks.
Okay. If there is no more question, I thank you very much for your attention. As usual, don't hesitate to contact the IR team to complete my answers. Have a nice day to everybody.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your telephones.