BRKM5 Braskem Sa

SAO PAULO, Nov. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Braskem S.A. (BM&FBOVESPA: BRKM3, BRKM5 and BRKM6; NYSE: BAK; LATIBEX: XBRK) announces today its results for 3Q13.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• In 3Q13, the average capacity utilization of Braskem's crackers stood at 92%, down 2 p.p. from 2Q13, explained by the unscheduled shutdown due to the power outage in August.
• Braskem's sales amounted to 898 kton, with its market share expanding 2 p.p. to 68%.
• EBITDA in 3Q13 reached R$1,650 million, driven by the stability in spreads in the international market, the improvement in the contribution margin and the 11% depreciation in the Brazilian real against the U.S. dollar. In U.S. dollar, EBITDA amounted to US$720 million.
• Braskem, in partnership with the manufacturing industry and aiming to improve the competitiveness of its clients and Brazil's plastics chain, launched the Plastics Chain Competitiveness Incentive Plan (PIC). The plan includes initiatives that range from promoting exports of manufactured products, supporting improvements in competitiveness and innovation and strengthening the advantages of plastics.
• Braskem announced the execution of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Styrolution to assess the possibility of forming a joint venture in Brazil in order to analyze the economic feasibility of installing a plant with annual production capacity of 100 kton of styrenics specialties and the copolymers acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and styrene acrylonitrile (SAN).
• Braskem will invest approximately R$50 million to expand and convert one of its polyethylene production lines in Bahia to produce metallocene-based LLDPE.
• Construction on the new petrochemical complex in Mexico (Ethylene XXI) continues to advance, with the project reaching 48.4% completion.
• Braskem's leverage reached 2.73x in U.S. dollar. This 9% reduction in relation to 2Q13 was positively affected by the improvement in operating performance in the period.
• Braskem lengthened the maturity of R$1,015 million in Export Credit Notes from 2014/2015 to 2021.

The full earnings release is available on the Company's IR website: www.braskem.com.br/ir

Braskem will host conference calls to discuss its Results on Friday, November 8, 2013, at 9:00 a.m. ET in English and 7:00 a.m. ET in Portuguese. See connecting details on the Company's IR website.

For further information, contact Braskem's Investor Relations Area:

braskem-ri@braskem.com.br, +55-11-3576-9531.