You are given a text that consists of multiple sentences. Your task is to perform abstractive summarization on this text. Use your understanding of the content to express the main ideas and crucial details in a shorter, coherent, and natural sounding text. 
Text: stepan.com under the Investors section of our website.
As vaccines are rolled out across the country, we hope you and your families have had a chance to be vaccinated and that you will continue to stay safe and healthy.
We at Stepan remain committed to doing our part by supporting customers that supply essential cleaning, disinfection, and personal wash products to the market.
Scott has been a key leader at Stepan for the past 28 years.
We are pleased to recognize Scott's contributions to our success with his promotion and are excited about the challenge he brings to this role and the impact he will have on the value of our company for you and for all shareholders.
The company had a good start to the year and delivered record quarterly income.
The best financial quarter our company has ever had.
Adjusted net income was $42.4 million or $1.82 per diluted share, up 75% from $24.2 million or $1.04 per diluted share last year when we had the power outage at our Millsdale facility.
For the quarter, surfactant operating income was up 47% primarily due to improved customer and product mix.
Our polymer business was up 140% on the strength of 32% global sales volume growth.
Part of the volume growth was driven by the INVISTA acquisition, organic market growth, and a rebound in our PA business.
our Specialty Product business results were down due to lower margins within our MCT product line.
Our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend on Stepan's common stock of $0.305 per share payable on June 15, 2021.
Stepan has increased its dividend for 53 consecutive years.
Luis will walk you through a few more details about our first quarter results.
Let's start with the Slide 4 to recap the quarter.
Adjusted net income for the first quarter of 2021 was at a record $42.4 million or $1.82 per diluted share, a 75% increase versus $24.2 million or $1.04 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2020.
Specifically, adjustment to reported net income this quarter consist of adjustment for deferred compensation and some minor restructuring expenses.
Adjusted net income for the quarter excludes deferred compensation expense of $1.7 million or $0.08 per diluted share compared to deferred compensation income of $3.6 million or $0.15 per diluted share in the same period last year.
The deferred compensation numbers represent the net expense related to the company's deferred compensation plan as well as cash-settled stocks appreciation rights for our employees.
Because these liabilities change with the movement in the stock price, we exclude these items from our operational discussion.
Slide 5 shows the total company earnings bridge for the first quarter compared to last year first quarter and breaks down the increase in adjusted net income.
Because this is net income, the figures noted here are on an after-tax basis.
We will cover each segment in more detail, but to summarize, surfactants and polymers were up significantly, while Specialty Product was a slightly down versus the prior year.
Corporate expenses and all others were higher during the quarter due to the higher acquisition-related expenses and incentive-based compensation.
The company's first quarter effective tax rate was 23.6% compared to 22.5% in the prior year quarter.
This year-over-year increase was primarily attributable to a less favorable geographical mix of income.
We expect the full year 2021 effective tax rate to be in the range of 23% to 26%.
Slide 6 focuses on Surfactant segment results for the quarter.
Surfactant net sales were $371 million, a 13% increase versus the prior year.
Selling prices were up 13% primarily due to an improved product and customer mix and the pass through of higher raw material costs.
Volume was flat versus the prior year.
Higher demand for products sold in our functional product end markets, principally agriculture and oilfield was offset by lower North America sales volume into our consumer product end market.
The reduction in North America consumer product volumes was due to suppliers force measure following the severe weather in Texas.
Consumer Products volume outside North America grew low single digits.
Surfactant operating income for the quarter increased $17 million or 47% versus the prior year.
The increase was primarily due to an improved product and customer mix and lower supply chain expenses with the non-recurrence of the Millsdale plant power outage in the prior year.
North America results increased primarily due to an improved product and customer mix.
Brazil results were up, driven by higher volumes and improved customer and product mix.
Mexico volume was also up high-single digit.
Europe results increased slightly due to an improved product and customer mix.
Now turning to polymers on the Slide 7.
Net sales were $150 million in the quarter, up 41% from the prior year quarter.
Total sales volume increased 32% in the quarter primarily due to 32% growth in rigid volume.
Global rigid polyol volumes excluding the INVISTA acquisition was up 8% versus the prior year.
Volume for PA increased significantly, given the weak base due to the Millsdale power outage in the prior year.
Selling prices increased 7% and the translation impact of a weaker US dollar positively impacted net sales by 2%.
Polymer operating income increased $10 million or a 140% primarily due to strong sales volume growth and lower supply chain expenses due to the non-recurrence of the Q1 2020 Millsdale plant power outage.
North America polyol results increased due to higher volumes and lower supply chain expenses in the current year quarter.
Europe results increased due to double-digit volume growth in rigid polyol primarily due to the INVISTA acquisition.
Asia and Latin America Polymer results decreased slightly versus prior year due to a one-time extra cost in Q1 2021.
Volume in Asia grew a strong double-digit.
specialty Product net sales were $16 million for the quarter, In line with the prior year.
Sales volume was up 4% between quarters and operating income declined $1.4 million.
The operating income decrease was primarily attributable to lower margins within our MCT product line giving higher raw material prices.
Moving on to Slide 8.
Our balance sheet remains strong, and we have ample liquidity to invest in the business.
Our leverage and interest coverage ratios continues at very solid levels.
The total cash reduction from $350 million to $151 million was driven INVISTA acquisition in the first quarter of 2021.
We had a strong cash from operations in the first quarter of 2021 which was used for CapEx investments, dividends, and incentive-based compensation payments -- payments.
The Company also experienced higher working capital requirements, which is typical for the first quarter.
Beginning on the Slide 10, Scott will now update you on our 2021 strategic priorities.
I am pleased to be joining our earnings call and look forward to continuing to contribute to the success our team has had generating for our shareholders.
As we wrap up the first quarter of 2021, we believe our business will remain strong.
We continue to prioritize the safety and health of our employees, as we deliver products that contribute to the fight against COVID-19.
Our EPA approved biocidal formulations kill the specific novel virus that causes COVID-19 and allow our customers to provide the public with additional tools to protect their families and fight the pandemic.
We believe Surfactant demand in the consumer product end markets should remain strong as a result of changing consumer habits and sustained higher use of disinfection, cleaning and personal wash products.
Core cleaning and disinfecting product lines drove volume growth in Europe and Latin America offset by lower volume in the US due to raw material disruptions related to the Texas weather incident.
We are increasing capacity in certain product lines biocides and amphoterics to ensure we can meet anticipated higher requirements from our customers.
We are also increasing North American capability and capacity to produce low 1,4-dioxane sulfates.
As previously explained, recent regulations passed in New York will require reduced levels of 1,4-dioxane in on-shelf consumer products by January 1, 2023.
1,4-dioxane is a minor byproduct generated in the manufacture of ether sulfate surfactants which are key cleaning and foaming ingredients in consumer products.
Through a combination of process optimization and additional manufacturing equipment, Stepan will be prepared to supply customers ether sulfates that meet the new regulatory requirements.
This project is the primary driver of our increased 2021 capital expenditure forecast of $150 million to $170 million.
We are working with our customers to ensure these product projects deliver our financial return targets.
Tier 2 and tier 3 customers continue to be a focus of our strategy.
We grew tier 2 and tier 3 volume by 9% in the first quarter and increased customer penetration adding 362 new customers during the quarter.
Our diversification strategy into functional markets continues to be a key priority for Stepan.
During the first quarter, global agricultural volumes increased with strong growth obtained in the post-patent pesticide segment and eight new products launched throughout the world.
Oilfield volume was up double digits due to higher oil prices.
We remain optimistic about future opportunities in this business as oil prices have recovered to the $60 per barrel level.
We remain fully committed to delivering productivity gains across the company.
We delayed productivity project implementation at Millsdale to allow the team to focus on COVID-19 related market opportunities.
Work on the project has now begun, and we expect to see the benefits in 2022 and beyond.
Polymers had a good quarter as the business is gradually coming back after a challenging year due to COVID restrictions.
The long-term prospects for our polyol business remain attractive as energy conservation efforts and more stringent building codes should increase demand.
The integration of INVISTA is going well, and we expect to deliver on our internal commitments during 2021.
The acquisition is expected to be accretive to both earnings per share and EBITDA margins in 2021.
The company expects the multiple on a post synergy basis to be between 6.5 and 7.5 times.
We expect to deliver full run rate synergies within two years.
The company also acquired a fermentation plant located in Lake Providence, Louisiana in February 2021.
This acquisition is part of Stepan's further development of bio surfactant technology following the acquisition of NatSurFact in 2020.
Stepan has strong knowledge of surfactant chemistry, and we are excited about fermentation as a new platform technology for our next generation of surfactants, as customers look to achieve sustainability goals while maintaining key performance attributes.
We continue to optimize our fermentation process technology including downstream processing.
The Louisiana plant will require additional investment to manufacture our target product portfolio but will provide world scale capabilities to support customers in both functional product and consumer product applications.
Given the strength of our balance sheet, we will continue to identify and pursue acquisition opportunities to fill gaps in our portfolio and to add new platform chemistries.
The company just completed its best quarter ever.
Looking forward, we believe our surfactant volumes in the consumer product end markets should remain strong as a result of continued heightened demand for disinfection, cleaning, and personal wash products.
We anticipate that demand for surfactants within the agricultural and oilfield markets will improve versus 2020.
Global demand for rigid polyols continues to recover from pandemic related delays and cancellation of reroofing and new construction projects.
This gradual recovery combined with our first quarter 2021 acquisition of INVISTA's aromatic polyester polyol business should position our polymer business to deliver strong growth versus prior year.
We anticipate our Specialty Product business results will improve slightly year-over-year.
After a record first quarter and despite experiencing significant raw material price increases, we are cautiously optimistic about the remainder of the year.
Daisy please review the instructions for the question portion of today's call.

user
q1 adjusted earnings per share $1.82.
stepan - believe surfactant volumes in n. american consumer product end markets may recover after supply chain disruptions from severe weather in texas.
believe that heightened consumer demand for disinfection, cleaning and personal wash products will continue.

assistant