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Text: stepan.com under the Investor Relations section of our website.
And we hope that you find information and perspective helpful.
We hope you and your families are safe and healthy.
As the world continues to be challenged by the global pandemic, we at Stepan remain committed to doing our part by supporting customers that supply essential, cleaning, disinfection and personal wash products to the market.
We are extremely grateful to our employees for their passion and commitment to get the job done for our customers throughout what was a challenging year.
Overall, COVID opportunities in the consumer product segment of our business outweigh the negative impacts elsewhere and the Company delivered record fourth quarter and full year earnings.
Fourth quarter adjusted net income was $33.1 million or $1.42 per diluted share, up 29% from $25.7 million or $1.10 per diluted share last year.
Adjusted net income for the full year was a record $132 million, up 11% from last year.
For the quarter, surfactant operating income was up significantly on volume growth, which was mostly attributable to continued strong demand for cleaning, disinfection and personal wash products.
Mexican operations delivered strong volume growth versus the prior year quarter.
Our Polymer business was up significantly during the quarter due to the Millsdale insurance recovery.
Our rigid polyol volumes are gradually improving, we had a good fourth quarter and finished strong with double-digit growth, driven by increased demand and customer inventory Brexit-build in Europe.
Our Specialty Product business results were up slightly in the fourth quarter.
Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend on Stepan's common stock of $0.305 per share payable on March 15, 2021.
Stepan has paid higher dividends for 53 consecutive years.
As recently announced, Stepan acquired INVISTA's aromatic polyester polyol business and associated assets.
The acquired business has global sales of approximately $100 million per year.
We are excited to add INVISTA's polyester polyol business and believe that INVISTA's available spare capacity combined with debottlenecking opportunities in both plants will allow Stepan to support future market growth in a capital efficient way.
At this point, I'd like Luis to walk through a few more details about our fourth quarter results.
Let's start with the Slide 5 to recap the quarter.
Adjusted net income for the fourth quarter of 2020 was $33.1 million or $1.42 per diluted share, a 29% increase versus $25.7 million or $1.10 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Specifically, adjustment to reported net income this quarter consist of adjustments for deferred compensation and cash-settled SARs and some minor restructuring expenses.
Adjusted net income for the quarter exclude deferred compensation expense of $2.4 million or $0.10 per diluted share compared to deferred compensation expense of $1.8 million or $0.07 per diluted share in the same period last year.
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 6 shows the total company earnings bridge for the fourth quarter compared to last year's fourth 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 slightly up versus the prior year.
Corporate expenses and all others were higher during the quarter due to higher acquisition-related expenses and incentive-based compensation.
The company's full year effective tax rate was 25% in 2020 compared to 18% in 2019.
This year-over-year increase was primarily attributable to non-recurring tax savings in 2019 and a one-time tax cost in Q4 2020 due to a cash repatriation project as part of the INVISTA acquisition.
Less favorable geographical mix of income in 2020 versus 2019 also impacted effective tax rate.
We expect the full year 2021 effective tax rate to be in the range of 24% to 27%.
Slide 7 focus on Surfactant segment results for the quarter.
Surfactant net sales were $358 million, a 16% increase versus the prior year.
Sales volume increased 8%, mostly due to higher demand for products sold into the consumer product end markets, driven by increased amount for cleaning, disinfection and personal wash product due to COVID-19.
Higher sales volume to our Tier 2, Tier 3 customers also contributed to this increase.
This growth was partially offset by lower demand in agricultural and oilfield markets.
Selling prices were up 11% and the translation impact of a stronger U.S. dollar negatively impacted net sales by 3%.
The higher selling prices primarily reflect improved product and customer mix.
Surfactant -- Surfactants operating income increased $9.4 million or 28% versus the prior year, primarily due to strong sales volume growth and a $3 million insurance recovery related to the first quarter Millsdale power outage.
North America results increased primarily due to strong demand in the consumer product end market and a better product and customer mix.
Brazil had a record quarter driven by strong volume growth.
Lower Mexico results were due to a high base period with insurance payment in December 2019, although Mexico volume was up 31%.
Europe results increased slightly due to higher consumer product demand.
Now turning to Polymers on Slide 8.
Net sales were $116.7 million in the quarter, in line with the prior year.
Sales volume increased 7%, primarily due to double-digit growth in global rigid volumes, lower PA demand partially offset the above growth.
Selling prices declined 8% and foreign currency translation positively impacted net sales by 1%.
The Polymer operating increased $11.4 million or 100% versus the prior year, the $10 million insurance recovery and the positive impact of volume growth.
All regions did well during the quarter.
North America polyol results increased due to higher volumes and margins, reflecting a gradual improvement in market conditions.
Europe results increased due to double-digit volume growth in both rigid and specialty polyol, while Asia and Latin America results increased slightly versus prior year.
Specialty Product net sales were $19.6 million for the quarter, a 6% increase versus the prior year.
Sales volume was down 1% between quarters and operating income improved 2%.
Turning to Slide 9.
Despite significant challenge during the year, including the global pandemic and the first quarter 2020 planned power outage at our Millsdale facility, the company delivered record full year results.
Adjusted net income was a record $132 million or $5.68 per diluted share versus $119.4 million or $5.12 per diluted share in the prior year, an increase of 11%.
The Surfactant segment delivered record operating income of $169 million, up 38% versus prior year.
This earnings growth was driven by a 6% increase in global volume due to higher demand for cleaning, disinfection and personal wash products as a result of COVID-19 and a significantly better product and customer mix.
The Polymer segment delivered $68 million of operating income, almost flat versus prior year despite the negative impact of COVID-19.
Global Polymer sales volume was down 5% as a result of lower demand within the PA business.
Global rigid polyols volumes were slightly down for the year due to construction project delays and cancellations due to COVID-19.
Specialty Product operating income was $14 million, down slightly from the prior year when we grew significantly versus 2018 actuals.
Slide 10 shows the total company earnings bridge for the full year 2020 compared to last year and breaks down the increase in adjusted net income.
The figures noted here are on an after-tax basis.
Surfactant was up significantly, while Polymer and Specialty Products were down slightly versus the prior year.
Moving on to Slide 11.
Our balance sheet remains strong.
We had negative net debt at year-end as our cash balance of $350 million exceeded total debt of $199 million.
The company had full year capital expenditure of $126 million and we are returning $41 million to our shareholders via dividends and share repurchases.
This strong balance sheet allow us to execute the INVISTA acquisition in January 2021.
Beginning on Slide 13, Quinn will now update you on our 2021 strategic priorities.
As we wrap up a challenging but rewarding 2020, we continue to believe that Stepan's business remains better positioned to perform than most as we demonstrated in the fourth quarter and full year 2020.
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 to 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 volume and consumer product end markets should remain strong as a result of changing consumer habits and increased use of disinfection, cleaning and personal wash products.
We are increasing capacity in certain product lines, including biocides and amphoterics to ensure we can meet our customers' higher requirements.
We are increasing North American capability and capacity to make low 1,4-dioxane surfactants.
As explained in our previous calls, recent regulations passed in New York will require reduced levels of 1,4-dioxane in a number of consumer products by January 1, 2023.
1,4-dioxane is a minor by-product generated in the manufacture of ether sulfate surfactants which are key 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 driver of our increased capex forecast for 2021 of $150 million to $170 million.
We are working with our customers to ensure these projects deliver our financial return targets.
Tier 2 and Tier 3 customers continue to be the center of our strategy.
We grew Tier 2 and Tier 3 volume by 28% in the fourth quarter and added 405 new customers.
Our diversification strategy into functional products continues to be a priority for Stepan.
During the fourth quarter, despite a slight volume decrease, our agricultural business grew in terms of profitability due to a favorable product mix.
We have introduced many new products to the agricultural market and will continue to invest in new capacity and capabilities to support growth in the agricultural market.
Oilfield volume was down due to overall challenges in the industry.
We remain optimistic about future opportunities in this business as oil prices have recovered through the $60 per barrel levels.
Polymers had a challenging year given the availability of labor on construction projects and the need for social distancing.
However, the long-term prospects for our polyol business remain attractive as energy conservation efforts and a more stringent building codes should increase demand.
The Illinois Rock -- River lock closure was completed on schedule during the quarter, which ended the premium logistic cost associated with the business.
We remain fully committed to delivering productivity gains across Stepan.
We delayed our project at Millsdale to allow the team to focus on COVID-19-related market opportunities.
Work on the project will continue this year and we expect to see benefits in 2020 and beyond.
M&A represents an important tool as a means to delivering meaningful EBITDA growth and margin improvement.
We are excited about the company's recent acquisition of INVISTA's aromatic polyester polyol business.
This is our largest acquisition to-date and will allow us to continue our journey to create a more specialized higher margin chemical company.
The transaction included two manufacturing sites, intellectual property, customer relationships, inventory and working capital.
The acquisition was financed with cash on hand.
We are putting our cash to work.
The acquired business has global sales of approximately $100 million.
The acquisition cost was $165 million plus working capital and is expected to be slightly accretive to Stepan's 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 year run rate synergies within two years.
This acquisition will allow us to support market growth for the next decade in a capitally efficient way through available spare capacity as well as debottlenecking opportunities in both plants.
The two additional locations also significantly enhanced business continuity for our customers.
The previously referenced multiples exclude the benefit of extra capacity acquired.
The company also announced the acquisition of a fermentation plant in Lake Providence, Louisiana.
Fermentation is a new platform technology for Stepan.
As we look to commercialize the next generation of surfactants, biosurfactants produced via fermentation are attractive due to their favorable biodegradability, low toxicity and in some cases unique antimicrobial properties.
This goes hand in hand with our previous NatSurFact rhamnolipid acquisition in 2020.
This technology provides an important new option as customers across markets seek to achieve greater sustainability advantages within their products.
The acquired plant will require additional investment to make our targeted products, but the site will provide world scale capabilities to support incorporation of new biosurfactants in agricultural and consumer products.
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.
Finally, 2020 was a difficult but rewarding year as our team responded to challenges and delivered on opportunities, particularly in our Surfactants business.
We believe the long-term prospects for rigid polyols remains attractive as energy conservation efforts and more stringent building codes should increase demand.
We believe our acquisition of INVISTA's aromatic polyester polyol business and two manufacturing sites position us better to meet long-term demand growth.
We anticipate our Specialty Product business results will improve slightly year-over-year.
In conclusion, we remain optimistic that we will continue to deliver value to you, our shareholders in the new year.
Tina, please review the instructions for the question portion of today's call.

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q4 adjusted earnings per share $1.42.
qtrly net sales $494.7 million, up 11%.

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