SQM REPORTS EARNINGS FOR THE TWELVE MONTHS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2021

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Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile, S.A. (SQM)

Mar 02, 2022, 23:07 ET

SANTIAGO, Chile, March 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

Highlights

SQM reported net income for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 of US$585.5 million. Earnings per share totaled US$2.05 for the twelve months of 2021, higher than the US$0.63 reported for the twelve months of 2020.
Revenues during 2021 were US$2,862.3 million.
SQM will hold a conference call to discuss these results on Thursday, March 3 at 10:00am ET (12:00pm Chile time).

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Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (SQM) (NYSE: SQM; Santiago Stock Exchange: SQM-B, SQM-A) today reported net income for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 of US$585.5 million (US$2.05 per ADR), an increase from US$164.5 million (US$0.63 per ADR) reported for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020.

Gross profit reached US$1,090.1 million (38.1% of revenues) for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021, higher than US$482.9 million (26.6% of revenues) recorded for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020. Revenues totaled US$2,862.3 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021, representing an increase of 57.5% compared to US$1,817.2 million reported for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020.

The Company also announced earnings for the fourth quarter of 2021, reporting net income of US$321.6 million (US$1.13 per ADR) compared to US$67.0 million (US$0.25 per ADR) for the fourth quarter of 2020. Gross profit for the fourth quarter of 2021 reached US$542.8 million; approximately 309.6% higher than the US$132.5 million recorded for the fourth quarter of 2020. Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2021 totaled US$1,084.3 million, an increase of approximately 111.0% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, when revenues amounted to US$513.8 million.

SQM's Chief Executive Officer, Ricardo Ramos, stated: "We are very proud that production goals set for 2021 were achieved, and in some cases even surpassed. As a result, we were able to supply stronger than expected demand growth in the lithium, iodine, potassium chloride and potassium nitrate markets and ultimately benefit from higher market prices. Consequently, our net income in 2021 was over three times higher than net income reported during 2020."

He continued by saying, "We believe global lithium demand grew approximately 55% during 2021 when compared to 2020, mainly driven by new demand for electric vehicles. We believe electric vehicle demand more than doubled globally last year when compared to 2020 with China representing about 50% of total global electric vehicles sales last year. During 2021, market prices for lithium also grew as supply could not keep up with the strong demand growth."

"Demand keeps on growing strongly, and we believe that the total demand will reach 1 million tons sooner than previously anticipated. Our current estimates for 2022 demand growth are over 30%. We do not believe that supply will be sufficient to meet this growth ultimately putting pressure on market prices, reaching levels never seen before. We are well positioned to face these opportunities; our capacity expansion to reach 180,000 tons should be completed in the coming months, allowing us to increase our market share in 2022 and as a result of the structure of our sales contracts, we should see a significant average price increase following the positive price trend seen in the market."

Then he continued, "We want to continue growing in the lithium market. The Board has just approved an additional lithium capacity plan in Chile, which will allow us to reach 210,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate and 40,000 metric tons of lithium hydroxide. We expect this new capacity to be ready next year with a total CAPEX of US$250 million. This expansion plan will be met as we remain committed to our previously announced goal to reduce brine extraction and water usage in the Salar de Atacama. Completing an expansion with these characteristics while keeping capex relatively low and reducing brine extraction, has become possible only after years of research and development, yield improvements, expertise and of course a strong effort by our production and engineering teams, and we are proud of that."

"In the iodine market, the post-Covid recovery was faster than we originally anticipated; we believe the market grew about 12% in 2021 compared to 2020. This was reflected in our sales volumes which increased 27% to 12,300 metric tons, in 2021 when compared to 2020. It is expected that our sales volumes will remain flat in 2022, but strong market conditions make us believe that the positive price environment could remain."

The CEO continued by saying, "Given the existing shortage of potash and potassium-based fertilizers, we saw a significant increase of global potassium prices. During the fourth quarter 2021, prices increased significantly compared to the third quarter of 2021 and the fourth quarter of last year, 56% and 153%, respectively, reaching almost US$685 per metric ton. This positive trend should continue in the short term, and also have a positive impact on the pricing environment in the SPN business line during the first half of 2022."

The CEO closed by saying, "We are working on a lot of new endeavours at SQM, major growth projects and of course increased efforts related to the sustainability of our operations."

Sustainable Development

We submitted our first disclosure report under Climate Disclosure Project (CDP) and in our first participating in the ranking, we were categorized as B, meaning that according to CDP, management is taking coordinated action on climate issues. Related to our IRMA (The Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance) efforts, we have begun the external audit part of the process. We are formally in phase 1 of the process, looking to begin Phase 2 on site in coming months.

In recent months, our environmental management system in our Port at Tocopilla was certified under ISO 14,001. We are working to certify in our Carmen Lithium facilities, Salar de Atacama and in Coya Sur during this year. Additionally, we are making progress in certifying our Occupational Health and Safety Management System under ISO 45,001.

As part of Race to Zero initiative and our aim to reduce our logistics carbon footprint, we have established an ambitious agenda to develop high tonnage transportation via electric trucks. This agenda considers several pilots in 2022 of different trucks that will perform tests in our operations. This will allow us to acquire the right knowledge and to accelerate the adoption of this new technology with the right technical support and competitiveness.

About SQM

SQM is a global company that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Santiago Stock Exchange (NYSE: SQM; Santiago Stock Exchange: SQM-B, SQM-A). SQM develops and produces diverse products for several industries essential for human progress, such as health, nutrition, renewable energy and technology through innovation and technological development. We aim to maintain our leading world position in the lithium, potassium nitrate, iodine and thermo-solar salts markets by:

Ensuring access to the best assets related to our current business lines by expanding our global presence;
Actively searching for attractive minerals allowing us diversification opportunities to replicate and expand our existing mining capacities;
Strengthening our operational, logistical and commercial excellence process from beginning to end, while looking to be a cost leader; and
Maintaining a conservative financial policy which allows us to successfully endure economic cycles that could impact the markets in which we sell.

We are a dynamic company. In pursuit of our objectives, we expect to acquire and develop projects and interests that are consistent with our existing and new businesses, either alone or with joint venture partners. We may also divest, spin-off or sell-down interests that we have acquired to deploy funds for other investments or other purposes in pursuit of our objectives to adjust risk or diversify our asset base.

We are a company built and managed by a culture based on excellence, safety, sustainability and integrity. We work every day to expand this culture through the attraction, retention and development of talent as well encouraging an inclusive and diverse work environment ensuring the unique knowledge and innovation needed to sustain our business. We strive for safe and accident-free operations by promoting conduct that favors the physical safety and psychological well-being of everyone who works directly and indirectly with the Company.

We position ourselves as a leader in sustainability and commit to a sustainable future where we constantly work to responsibly manage natural resources, protect human rights, care for the environment, form close and trusting relationships with our neighboring communities and create value. Within these communities, we support projects and activities with a focus on education, business development, and protection of the environment and historical heritage. We create value for our clients through established commercial models and the production and development of differentiated products that respond to their industry and market specific needs, constantly creating and providing a sustainable improvement in the quality of life. We will continue to create value for all of our stakeholders through responsible management of natural resources, sustainable expansion projects and improvement of our existing operations, with a focus on minimizing our environmental impacts by reducing our carbon, energy and water footprints and working together with our shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers and communities.

For further information, contact:

Gerardo Illanes 56-2-24252022 / [email protected]
Kelly O'Brien 56-2-24252074 / [email protected]
Irina Axenova 56-2-24252280 / [email protected]

For media inquiries, contact:

Maria Ignacia Lopez / [email protected]
Pablo Pisani / [email protected]

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as: "anticipate," "plan," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "strategy," "should," "will" and similar references to future periods. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make concerning the Company's capital expenditures, financing sources, Sustainable Development Plan, business and demand outlook, future economic performance, anticipated sales volumes, profitability, revenues, expenses, or other financial items, anticipated cost synergies and product or service line growth.

Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are estimates that reflect the best judgment of SQM management based on currently available information. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that are outside of our control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated in such statements, including our ability to successfully implement the Sustainable Development Plan. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Readers are referred to the documents filed by SQM with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including the most recent annual report on Form 20-F, which identifies other important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to SQM on the date hereof and SQM assumes no obligation to update such statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.

SOURCE Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile, S.A. (SQM)