Element Solutions Inc Reports Record Quarterly Results and Increases 2026 Full Year Guidance

• Net sales of $840 million, an increase of 41% on a reported basis or 10% on an organic basis from the first quarter of 2025
• Reported net income of $56 million, compared to $98 million in the same period last year, a decrease of 43% on a reported basis, primarily due to gain on the Graphics Solutions divestiture in the prior year period, and net income margin of 6.7%, compared to 16.5% in the same period last year
• Adjusted EBITDA of $162 million, compared to $128 million in the same period last year, an increase of 26% on a reported basis and 21% on a constant currency basis.
• Adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 27.8% from 26.1% in the same period last year¹

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) (“Element Solutions” or the “Company”), a global and diversified specialty chemicals technology company, today announced its financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2026.

Executive Commentary

Chief Executive Officer Benjamin Gliklich commented, “Element Solutions had an outstanding start to the year. We delivered double-digit organic net sales growth and strong margin expansion while ramping our investments to keep pace with customer innovation. The technical requirements in datacenter hardware and other high-performance electronics keep increasing, and our business is providing ever more critical solutions to challenges in thermal management, power density and advanced packaging applications. Along with the pace of innovation, the pace of activity in the electronics supply chain accelerated in Q1 to support AI infrastructure build-out. Customer orders and their go-forward forecasts increased materially, and our Electronics portfolio's net sales grew 15% organically. We are investing to keep up with the supply chain demands, whether that is inventory to support customer volumes, additional capacity in certain product lines or innovation to remain on the leading edge. Across all of these vectors, our investment is customer-led and supporting durable growth trends. Our largest recent investments - the EFC and Micromax acquisitions - closed this quarter, and their results are tracking favorably to our original plans. More importantly, their teams are settling well into our organization and energized by the opportunities our platform will provide them to better serve their customers.”

Mr. Gliklich continued, “Our organic acceleration in the first quarter gives us confidence in a strong year, despite a more complex macro environment than anticipated. We already see inflationary pressure driven by current geopolitical events and expect increased variance in quarterly earnings driven by swings in metals prices, although those benefitted us in Q1. We have a flexible operating model and a demonstrated track-record of agility, whether that relates to sourcing, pricing or cost management. We are already taking action to preserve our profitability and our ability to service customers. At the same time, the underlying demand in the high-end electronics market remains quite strong. Given the strong positions we have established in the fastest-growing, highest-value niches of these markets and our expectation that we can continue to nimbly manage through current supply chain disruptions, we are raising our adjusted EBITDA guidance for the full year.”

First Quarter 2026 Highlights (compared with first quarter 2025)

• Net sales on a reported basis for the first quarter of 2026 were $840 million, an increase of 41% over the first quarter of 2025. Organic net sales increased 10%.
  • Electronics: Net sales increased 61% to $634 million, of which 16% resulted from acquisitions. Organic net sales increased 15%.
  • Specialties: Net sales increased 4% to $207 million, which were negatively impacted by 3% from divestitures net of acquisitions. Organic net sales increased 1%.
• First quarter of 2026 earnings per share (EPS) performance:
  • GAAP diluted EPS was $0.23, as compared to $0.40 for the same period last year.
  • Adjusted EPS was $0.41, as compared to $0.34 for the same period last year.
• Reported net income for the first quarter of 2026 was $56 million, as compared to $98 million for the first quarter of 2025, a decrease of 43%.
  • Net income margin decreased by 980 basis points to 6.7%.
• Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2026 was $162 million, as compared to $128 million for the first quarter of 2025. On a constant currency basis, adjusted EBITDA increased 21%.
  • Adjusted EBITDA would have been $170 million if the Micromax acquisition had closed on January 1, 2026.
  • Electronics: Adjusted EBITDA was $119 million, an increase of 34%. On a constant currency basis, adjusted EBITDA increased 29%. The Micromax business had a positive impact of 11% on constant currency adjusted EBITDA growth.
  • Specialties: Adjusted EBITDA was $43 million, an increase of 9%. On a constant currency basis, adjusted EBITDA increased 3%. The EFC Gases & Advanced Materials business had a positive impact of 9% on constant currency adjusted EBITDA growth. The MacDermid Graphics Solutions business had a negative impact of 13% on constant currency adjusted EBITDA growth.
  • Adjusted EBITDA margin increased by 170 basis points to 27.8%.

Updated 2026 Guidance

The Company now expects full year 2026 adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $665 million to $685 million, inclusive of expected contributions from the Micromax and EFC acquisitions on a full-year basis and assuming current exchange rates and metal prices, and adjusted EPS growth rate in the high teens. In addition, the Company expects second quarter 2026 adjusted EBITDA to be between $155 million and $170 million.

2026 Virtual Investor Day

The Company plans to hold a Virtual Investor Day at 9 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Monday, May 18, 2026. Attendees can register for the event and view the webcast on the Company's Investor Relations website at www.elementsolutionsinc.com. Dial-in details and the slide presentation will be made available closer to the event. An audio replay will be posted on the Company's Investor Relations website following the event.

Recent Developments

Micromax Acquisition - On February 2, 2026, the Company completed the acquisition of Micromax, a global supplier of advanced electronics inks and pastes, for a purchase price of approximately $493 million, net of cash and subject to adjustments.

EFC Acquisition - On January 2, 2026, the Company completed the acquisition of EFC Gases & Advanced Materials, a provider of high-purity specialty gases and other advanced materials, for a purchase price of approximately $367 million, net of cash and subject to adjustments, with a potential earn-out based on EFC's 2026 performance of up to $30.0 million cash or 1.16 million shares of the Company's common stock.

Add-on Term Loans & Revolver Upsize - On February 2, 2026, the Company completed the syndication of $450 million of Add-on Term Loans and a 5-year $500 million senior secured revolving credit facility, which replaced its then existing $375 million revolving facility, upsizing the facility by $125 million and extending its maturity to 2031. The proceeds of the Add-on Term Loans were used to fund a portion of the purchase price of the Micromax Acquisition.

Conference Call

Element Solutions will host a webcast/dial-in conference call to discuss its 2026 first quarter financial results at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Wednesday, April 29, 2026. Participants on the call will include Chief Executive Officer Benjamin H. Gliklich and Chief Financial Officer Carey J. Dorman.

To listen to the call by telephone, please dial 888-715-9871 (domestic) or 646-307-1963 (international) and provide the Conference ID: 5315411. The call will be simultaneously webcast at www.elementsolutionsinc.com. A replay of the call will be available after completion of the live call at www.elementsolutionsinc.com.

About Element Solutions

Element Solutions Inc is a leading global specialty chemicals technology company whose businesses supply a broad range of solutions that enhance the performance of products people use every day. Developed in multi-step technological processes, these innovative solutions enable customers' manufacturing processes in multiple high-value industries, including semiconductor fabrication, high-performance computing, automotive systems, consumer electronics, power electronics, communications and data storage infrastructure, aerospace and defense, industrial surface finishing and offshore energy.

More information about the Company is available at www.elementsolutionsinc.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release is intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as it contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements will often contain words such as "expect," "anticipate," "project," "will," "should," "believe," "intend," "plan," "assume," "estimate," "predict," "seek," "continue," "outlook," "may," "might," "aim," "can have," "likely," "potential," "target," "hope," "goal," "priority," "guidance" or "confident" and variations of such words and similar expressions. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements, beliefs, projections and expectations regarding the Company's investments; customer innovation; expected benefits of recent acquisitions, including their contributions to the Company's full year 2026 adjusted EBITDA; metals prices volatility; capital deployment; profitability; market trends; conditions and demand expectations; second quarter and full year 2026 guidance for adjusted EBITDA; and full year 2026 adjusted EPS growth expectations. These projections and statements are based on management's estimates, assumptions or expectations with respect to future events and financial performance, and are believed to be reasonable, though are inherently uncertain and difficult to predict. Such projections and statements are based on the assessment of information available as of the current date, and the Company does not undertake any obligations to provide any further updates. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements if one or more of the underlying estimates, assumptions or expectations prove to be inaccurate or are unrealized. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the war in Ukraine, the Iran conflict and other hostilities in the Middle-East as well as actions in response thereto and their impact on market conditions and the global economy; increases in tariffs and/or imposition of new tariffs and other changes in trade policy, in the U.S. and other countries, and other economic factors that may affect cost structure and demand, including the cost and availability of raw materials and precious metals; capital requirements and need for and availability of financing; the impact of government regulations on our ability to conduct operations; the impact of changes to privacy, cybersecurity, environmental, global trade, tax and other governmental regulations; impairments, including those on goodwill and other intangible assets; price volatility and cost environment; inflation and fluctuations in foreign exchange rates; the Company's liquidity, cash flows and capital allocation; funding sources; capital expenditures; outstanding debt and debt leverage ratio; shares repurchases; debt and/or equity issuance or retirement; expected returns to stockholders; and the impact of acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, refinancings, impairments and other unusual items, including the Company's ability to integrate and obtain the anticipated benefits, results and synergies from these items or other related strategic initiatives. Additional information concerning these and other factors that could cause actual results to vary is, or will be, included in the Company's periodic and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Non-GAAP Measures

To supplement its financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP, Element Solutions presents in this release the following non-GAAP financial measures: EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA growth, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted EPS, adjusted common shares outstanding, free cash flow, organic net sales growth, second quarter and full year 2026 guidance for adjusted EBITDA, and full year 2026 adjusted EPS growth expectations. The Company also evaluates and presents its results of operations on a constant currency basis.

Management internally reviews these non-GAAP measures to evaluate performance and liquidity on a comparative period-to-period basis in terms of absolute performance, trends and expected future performance with respect to the Company’s business, and believes that these non-GAAP measures provide investors with an additional perspective on trends and underlying operating results on a period-to-period comparable basis. The Company also believes that investors find this information helpful in understanding the ongoing performance of its operations as well as their ability to generate cash separate from items that may have a disproportionate positive or negative impact on its financial results in any particular period or that are considered to be associated with its capital structure. These non-GAAP financial measures, however, have limitations as analytical tools, and should not be considered in isolation from, a substitute for, or superior to, the related financial information that Element Solutions reports in accordance with GAAP. The principal limitation of these non-GAAP financial measures is that they exclude significant expenses and income that are required by GAAP to be recorded in the Company’s financial statements, and may not be completely comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies due to potential differences in calculation methods. In addition, these measures are subject to inherent limitations as they reflect the exercise of judgment by management about which items are excluded or included in determining these non-GAAP financial measures. Investors are encouraged to review the definitions and reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most comparable GAAP financial measures included in this press release, and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate the Company's businesses.

The Company provides second quarter and full year 2026 guidance for adjusted EBITDA and full year 2026 adjusted EPS growth expectations on a non-GAAP basis only. Reconciliations of such forward-looking non-GAAP measures to GAAP are excluded in reliance upon the exception provided by Item 10(e)(1)(i)(B) of Regulation S-K due to the inherent difficulty in forecasting and quantifying, without unreasonable efforts, certain amounts that are necessary for such reconciliations, including adjustments that could be made for restructurings, refinancings, impairments, divestitures, integration and acquisition-related expenses, share-based compensation amounts, non-recurring, unusual or unanticipated charges, expenses or gains, adjustments to inventory and other charges reflected in its reconciliations of historic numbers, the amount of which, based on historical experience, could be significant.

Constant Currency:

The Company discloses net sales and adjusted EBITDA on a constant currency basis by adjusting results to exclude the impact of changes due to the translation of foreign currencies of its international locations into U.

Investor Relations Contact:
Varun Gokarn
Vice President, Strategy and Integration
Element Solutions Inc
1-203-952-0369
IR@elementsolutionsinc.com

Media Contact:
Scott Bisang / Ed Hammond / Tali Epstein
Collected Strategies
1-212-379-2072
esi@collectedstrategies.com