in Sabella Ogea
Shares of Venator Materials PLC rose in premarket trading on Monday after the chemical maker and marketer said it was selling its iron oxide business despite widening losses in the third quarter.
Shares rose 4.5% to 70 cents a share in premarket trading.
The company said it was selling its iron oxide business to Cathay Industries. An enterprise value of $140 million, noting that the group is focused on reducing costs and improving liquidity, while optimizing its manufacturing network.
“Weak demand continued into the fourth quarter, and we started to see weakness in North America. With still limited visibility into the period ahead, we took a series of actions, including moderate production at our manufacturing facilities,” CEO Simona said.
The iron oxide business earned an average of $16 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2020 and 2021, the company said.
It noted that the transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2023.
Regarding its third-quarter earnings, the company said its net loss widened to $50 million, or 46 cents a share, from a loss of $47 million, or 44 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue fell 9.2% to $506 million. Analysts polled by FactSet had forecast revenue of $553.8 million.
Write to Sabela Ojea at sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix