Evonik increased chemical sales volumes by 2% in the third quarter of 2026 as higher prices and cost reductions helped lift adjusted earnings, despite continued pressure on the industrial economy. Group sales grew by 13% year on year, including a 10% increase in selling prices, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 40% to €629m. The Essen-based speciality chemicals manufacturer is maintaining its full-year earnings guidance and now expects a result in the upper half of the range.
Group selling prices increased 10%, leaving product mix, operating efficiency and pricing with a much larger influence on earnings than the rise in physical shipments alone. Evonik kept its 2026 adjusted EBITDA forecast at €2.0bn to €2.2bn, with the result now expected in the upper half of that range. Fourth-quarter earnings are forecast to exceed the comparable 2025 period, although conditions remain uneven between the company’s main businesses.
Advanced Technologies produced the sharpest improvement. Third-quarter sales in the segment rose 19% to €1.713bn, supported by higher volumes and prices, while adjusted EBITDA increased 87% to €377m. Its earnings margin improved to 22.0% from 14.0% a year earlier. Performance was particularly strong in Animal Nutrition, where demand and prices for essential amino acids improved, and in the Organics business, where crosslinkers and high-performance polymers contributed to growth.
Evonik increased utilisation of its high-performance polymer production capacity as orders improved. A greater operating rate allows fixed costs to be spread across more saleable output, but chemical plants still have to match feedstock availability, process settings, equipment reliability and product specifications to the intended production mix. The company has not released plant-by-plant utilisation figures, so the announced improvement cannot be converted into a quantified capacity increase for any particular factory.
Demand for precipitated silica strengthened within the Inorganics business, adding to growth in Advanced Technologies. Manufacturing these materials involves controlling the physical and chemical characteristics of particles that determine their behaviour in downstream applications. Batch consistency depends on feed preparation, reaction conditions, separation, drying and finishing. The company’s figures show stronger demand but do not identify a newly commissioned precipitated-silica production line.
The Custom Solutions segment recorded a more restrained quarter. Sales increased 4% to €1.394bn while volumes remained unchanged, principally because higher prices passed through increased raw material costs. Adjusted EBITDA rose 7% to €231m, and its margin increased from 16.0% to 16.6%. Additives used in paints, coatings and oil applications performed more strongly, while demand for some additives used in polyurethane foams and consumer durables remained close to the previous year.
Flat Custom Solutions volumes alongside 4% higher revenue indicate that its third-quarter increase came from pricing rather than a general rise in throughput. Pass-through changes in raw material costs can alter the value of chemical sales without requiring a corresponding increase in output. In contrast, the higher production utilisation disclosed for high-performance polymers in Advanced Technologies points to a specific operating response to demand. The two segments therefore entered the final quarter from different manufacturing positions.
The group is continuing its Evonik Tailor Made efficiency programme, which it has extended until 2029. It recorded €313m of third-quarter provisions for measures including severance costs, and reported a quarterly net loss of €53m, compared with a €106m loss in the equivalent period of 2025. The accounting provisions are distinct from immediate operating cash expenditure and from the adjusted EBITDA figure; the measures are intended to alter the company’s future cost base rather than represent a direct increase in chemical production.
Evonik is also changing the scope of the businesses it operates. It expects to identify a buyer for Oxeno, its C4 chemicals unit, in the coming months and is preparing a possible sale of Syneqt, the operator of chemical-park infrastructure at Marl and Wesseling. Utilities, logistics and shared facilities at chemical parks are closely connected with manufacturing operations, so future arrangements for those services will need to be established if Syneqt changes ownership. Neither disposal has been completed.
Cash generation improved during the quarter. Free cash flow reached €369m, against €300m a year earlier, and free cash flow for the first nine months reached €601m. Evonik expects around €850m for 2026 and is targeting a cash conversion rate of approximately 40%. It also expects return on capital employed to exceed 8% this year, compared with 6.1% in 2025, with a longer-term objective of about 11% by 2029.
Evonik enters the final quarter with higher volumes in selected businesses, a substantially improved adjusted earnings margin and an extended restructuring programme. Its 2026 target remains adjusted EBITDA of €2.0bn to €2.2bn, while the changes planned for Oxeno and Syneqt have yet to result in completed transactions. Further evidence of production demand will come through the company’s subsequent volume and capacity utilisation reporting, particularly in high-performance polymers and chemical additives.
